5 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. J 




I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA f 



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THE 

NEW ALT A R 

Jfn Earnest and 3?t|aotioal Examination 

OF 

E I T C ALISM, 

A. S. VAUGHAX. 

PASTOR THIRD BEFOBMED C DNGBEiJ ATTON « TORE, PA.. 



Protestantism goes directly to Christ.— ? chaff. 



YORK, PENXA. 
OLIVER STUCK, PRINTER. 

1868. 




Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the 
year 1868, by 

A. S. V A UGH AN, 
in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of the Uni- 
ted States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



f F- F f fiPF 



This Volume is Protestant. It aims to speak 
with no . uncertain voice. Semi-Romanists, in 
the interest of the Reformed Church, have con- 
stituted themselves the guardians of what is sup- 
posed to be sound theology. With more than 
ordinary presumption, it is affirmed that ortho- 
doxy must be measured by conformity with a 
semi-Roman view of the Church. 

The minister, who has made and is now mak- 
ing, a persistent effort to change the faith of 
the Reformed Church, is himself in no living 
sympathy with German theology. Rev. John 
W. Nevin, D. D., was educated in the Presby- 
terian Church. About twenty-five years ago, 
he was called to one of the Professorships of the 
"Theological Seminary of the German Reform- 
ed Church," located at Mercer sburg. Pa. At 
that time he was supposed to be at heart a Ger- 
man Theologian : now. however, he plainly as- 
serts that his theology is more Anglican than 
German. This open avowal of his faith may 
serve to explain the fact, that at present he seems 
to make little account of what is really German 



4 



Reformed. Ritualism has never been identi- 
fied in any sense with the history of the Reform- 
ed Church. For this reason Dr. Nevin is un- 
willing to be bound to what act ually constitutes 
our peculiar theological life. He claims the 
right to revolutionize the Church: making in the 
end a kind of semi-Roman sect, after the style 
of his own private judgment In this self-deter- 
mined, individual way. he uses his high position 
as Professor, to teach views that are utterly 
at variance with our Protestant faith. 

A few years after Dr. Xevin came into the 
Reformed Church, he published a tract, "The 
Anxious Bench." This tract was widely circu- 
lated, and in the interest of the catechetical sys- 
tem of religious instruction, did good. Having 
fought the radicalism of the "New Measure 
System." he seems to have become distrustful as 
to the. practically reigning idea of Protestant- 
ism. This had the effect of leading him to look 
for a basis on which to ground a more philoso- 
phical theory of the Christian Church. He at- 
tempted a defence of Protestantism from a new, 
and, as he supposed, a firmer foundation. 

This new theory gave rise to what has been 
technically called " Mercersburg Theology" It 
may be proper to remark in this connection 
that "Mercersburg Theology" and "Mercersburg 



5 



Philosophy" are not the same. Dr. Ranch, first 
President of "Marshall College," may be regard- 
ed as the founder of the system of thought, 
known as "Mercersburg Philosophy." This sys- 
tem is embodied principally in his unpublished 
lectures on "Moral Philosophy." Dr. Ranch 
neither held, nor taught, the semi-Roman views 
now^ held and taught by Dr. Nevin. It is a 
great mistake to confound the system of Christian 
Philosophy taught by Dr. Rauch with any such 
anti-Protestant theological system as that now 
taught by Dr. Nevin. 

True, it would seem on comparing the "Lec- 
tures on Moral Philosophy" by Dr. Nevin with 
those prepared by Dr. Rauch, that the two wri- 
ters hold many thoughts in common. Any 
careful student of philosophy can easily discover 
that in Dr. Ranch's lectures there is a far deeper 
current of thought ; there is greater freedom in 
his clear apprehension of principles ; there is a 
more strictly logical development of these prin- 
ciples. 

It is false, therefore, to assert that the semi- 
Roman Ritualism of Dr. Nevin is a legitimate 
development of " Mercer shurg Philosophy " Dr. 
Ranch was a profound German scholar ; his 
theology, as well as his philosophy, was German. 
Dr. Nevin says, u We freely admit, our theology 



6 



is more Anglican than German" On this point 
no minister of the Reformed Church, who un- 
derstands " Mercersburg Philosophy," can have 
any doubt. Dr. JSTevin is far more deeply in 
sympathy with Fronde, Wilberforce, Pusey and 
other Ritualists of England, than he ever can be 
with the system of thought so ably taught by 
Dr. Ranch. 

It may be humiliating to acknowledge the 
fact, that Dr. Nevin ever succeeded to any ex- 
tent, in dragging into the Reformed Church his 
Anglo-Roman notions. Especially is it humilia- 
ting to be told that these notions are identically 
the legitimate fruit of "Mercersburg Philoso- 
phy." As a member of the Alumni of "Frank- 
lin and Marshall College," of which Dr. Nevin 
is now President. I solemnly protest against any 
such perverted use of that profound system of 
philosophy, hitherto the grand characteristic of 
the College. Dr.Nevin's theology is not based 
upon that system; all the students, he has ever 
influenced to believe in his abstractions, may be 
challenged to prove that his theology rests upon 
Dr. Ranch's system. 

The Ritualistic system examined in this vol- 
ume, is the semi-Romanism held and taught by 
Dr. Nevin in common with the Oxford Traeta- 
rians. True, it is claimed that this so-called 



T 



^ Mercersburg Theology,' as a system, Is more 
profound, more truly Catholic ; it may differ also 
as to the Episcopate. These differences do not 
touch the foundation-idea ; the}' have reference 
to the development) tike principle on which Dr. 
Xevin stands is identically the same as that on 
which the Tractarians stand. 

In his effort to change the faith of the Re- 
formed Church, Dr. Xevin has been careful to 
allow the idea to prevail, that he is teaching the 
system of thought known as "Mercersburg Phi- 
losophy." Without trying to understand this 
truly Christian system, as taught by Dr. Rauch. 
or indeed without ever having seen Dr. Rauch's 
great work on "Moral Philosophy " a few minis- 
ters have taken up Dr. Nevin's abstractions as 
being the same, and in this second-handed way 
imagine, that they are students of a system they 
never studied. Dr. Xevin himself, as a theolo- 
gian, cannot be taken as a representative of the 
system, taught by Dr. Rauch. True, in order 
to defend this Ritualistic movement in the Re- 
formed Church, Dr. E. V. Gerhart claims that 
Dr. Xevin, as second President of "Marshall 
College" and he himself, as first President of 
''Franklin and Marshall College,'' matured Dr. 
Rauch/ s system. Xo pretence, how ever, can be 
more shallow. Had Dr. Gerhart in the interest 



8 



of Ritualism said, that he and Dr. Kevin had 
succeeded in perverting the minds of students 
as to the true idea of Dr. Ranch's system, he 
would certainly have been nearer the truth than 
when he claims to have matured the system'. 

A comparison of Dr. Ranch's "Lectures on 
Moral Philosophy" with those of Dr. Kevin, in- 
cluding all that Dr. Gerhart has ever said or 
written, will soon convince any intelligent stu- 
dent of philosophy, of the vast superiority of 
Dr. Ranch's Lectures, over all that has ever been 
written by those who have pretended to under- 
stand what u Mercer •sburg Philosophy" really 
means. 

In no respect is this more abundantly clear, 
than in the vastly more profound view taken by 
Dr. Ranch of the soul's relation to Christ. The 
system taught by Dr. Nevin is confused ; his 
idea of the Catholic is Schilling's semi-panthe- 
istic theory of nature. Of course this view of 
the person of Christ must lead Dr. Nevin into a 
world of vague abstractions. He does not aim 
to teach a semi-pantheistic idea of the person of 
Christ, and yet he is certainly involved in a 
theory, the ultimate issue of which is not clear 
to his own mind. 

The first systematic evidence of the semi- 
Roman tendency of this confused system, comes 



9 



to view in the Ritualism practically embodied 
in the "New Order of Worship.'' 1 Of course 
there is no formal statement of Romish doctrine; 
on the other hand, that any such doctrine is im- 
plied, is positively denied. Denial, however, is 
not proof. Any careful student of theology is 
not to be deceived in this way. Anselm's theory 
of faith is clearly found to underlie the whole 
book. This itself overthrows the possibility of 
denial ; the Romish Church honors Anselm for 
teaching this idea of faith ; he is called the 
Augustine of the Middle Ages. Ursinus, Calvin, 
indeed all the Reformers, rejected this Romish 
idea of faith. The Apostolic Church taught no 
such abstraction. Dr. Ranch in his "Moral 
Philosophy' 1 condemns it. Ursinus most ex- 
plicitly condemns all such scholastic vagaries. 

Some have said that this "Neiv Order of 
Worship," is the offspring of the Church ; no 
presumption could be more preposterous. The 
history of the book proves beyond any doubt 
the plain fact — it is the t?*uly legitimate off-spiHng 
of Dr. Neviivs semi-Roman idea of the Church. 

In no proper sense is the Reformed Church 
responsible for a single service found in the 
book. The theory is not Reformed ; the theol- 
ogy is not Reformed ; in a word, the book as 
such, no matter what its merits, is not Reformed. 



10 



To sa}^ that the Church originated the theory, 
has taught the theology, or ever endorsed the 
book, is simply false. Dr. Nevin is himself in- 
dividually responsible for the mischief al- 
ready done by the partial use of this anti-Re- 
formed book. He may deny ; he may try to ex- 
cuse himself; he may even assert that at one 
time he had no heart in the work of preparing 
the book. Xo such sophistry will excuse him. 
His high and responsible position, as President 
of the College, has enabled him to exert an in- 
fluence over the minds of young men, preparing 
for the ministry. By this means he has led a 
few into extreme error ; they have gone to 
Rome. Others are now ready to teach views. 
whichDr.Nevin himself would doubtlessbe shock- 
ed to hear taught, in the interest of Apostolic 
truth. His error, however, was the starting 
point. Either directly, or indirectly, he has 
brought these ministers to think with him ; they 
claim to be his ardent admirers. By means of 
this kind of influence, he has been able in a large 
measure, to control the decisions of the Synod. 
Any intelligent mind can easily see that he has 
controlled Synod in so far as the Ritualistic 
development has gone ; whether he will continue 
to do so, remains to be seen. 
The simple fact, that the "Provisional Liturgy*' 



1 1 



utterly failed to gain any hold upon the mind of 
the Church, ought to have satisfied the Ritual- 
istic party, that their new scheme for revolu- 
tionizing the Reformed Church must fait. The 
laity will not be led captive in this wholesale, 
semi-Roman style. There is yet too great a 
reverence for the Reformed Church of our fath- 
ers ; there is yet too strong a love for the sys- 
tem of the Heidleburg Catechism, to fall in at 
once with this Anglo-Roman movement. In- 
telligent la3mien are not so easily persuaded of 
the truth of an abstraction. It may be easy 
enough for Dr. Xevin to cast his German theol- 
ogy to the winds, and with hearty enthusiasm 
accept the Anglo-Roman theory ; it is not so 
easy to persuade the members of the Reformed 
Church to level down the graves of their fathers, 
bid adieu to the old land-marks, and then march 
in solid column, at Dr. X evhrs bidding, into the 
newly finished Anglo-Roman Church — there to 
bow to long-robed priests : there to practice un- 
meaning mummeries. 

There are too many precious memories clus- 
tering around the "Old Home there are too 
man}* voices, dearer to the heart than outward 
forms and ceremonies, still echoing from our 
Reformed Zion, to allow any such semi-Romau- 



12 



ism ever to take the place of that which is 
known to be Reformed. 

It may be humiliating to know that any one 
minister has been able to do the mischief al- 
ready too plainly evident : facts are facts. Dr. 
Nevin of to-day is not Dr. Nevin of twenty- 
five years ago. At that time he could speak of 
Rome, as being a system of the most "stupen- 
dous quackery the world ever saw now how- 
ever, he is an apologist for Rome. At that time 
he made sweeping charges against an abuse of 
Protestant freedom ; now he is an extremist in 
the opposite direction. 

By going to an extreme, Dr. Nevin has virtu- 
ally driven a few ministers of the Reformed • 
Church to Rome ; others, who are his warmest 
admirers, are unsettled; others are teaching- 
views not known before to have been taught by 
a Protestant minister. Dr. Nevin himself may 
not be aware of the fact, that some of his admir- 
ers in the ministry, are ready to affirm openly 
that the people should not h are the Bible. This is 
the vilest curse of the Romish system : the won- 
der is that any conscientious minister can hold 
such an idea and remain out of Rome. Nay, 
more : the wonder is that a theory involving 
any such fearful heresy as this, should for a 
moment be tolerated in any Protestant com- 



13 



munion. To attempt to deny that Dr. Nevin's 
theory has 13d to this extreme, would be worse 
than folly. " The Anxious Bench System," with 
all its wild extravagance, never uttered any such 
thought : on the other hand, it has always en- 
couraged the circulation of the Bible. 

" The Anxious Bench'' 1 was never carried into 
our Colleges, or "Theological Seminary ;" now, 
however, and that too without the instructions 
of the Church, this fearful semi-Romanism is 
taught in our Institutions, and young men, in- 
fluenced by the instructions of Professors, go 
out from these schools prepared to teach such 
iniquitous views. It is no uncommon thing to 
find a licentiate, just from the Seminary, sit- 
ting in judgment upon the orthodoxy of aged 
ministers, not "learned" in the "new" theology. 
These same young men presume to declare, that 
the people are not capable of understanding 
the Bible, and therefore it should not be pro- 
miscuously circulated. 

As ministers of Christ, as those who know 
these things to be true, we are bound to speak. 
Much as we may deplore a public attack upon 
this bad system, it cannot be avoided. Truth 
is too dear to be trampled in the dust in this 
wholesale way. Much as we might wish that 
Dr. Kevin had never taught any such false the- 



14 

ory, that will not stop those who presume to 
teach such views, from continuing to defend 
what they were taught to believe. The 
young and inexperienced, are not to he held 
responsible: Dr. Kevin is the fountain from 
which flows the entire stream. 

A theory may be false, though held and con- 
scientiously taught by an aged Professor : this 
theory we know to be false ; and if for no oth- 
er reason than simply because some of those 
who favor it, and who pretend fully to under- 
stand it, do hold and assert, that it is danger- 
ous to circulate the Word of God — which the 
the Apostle affirms to be u the power of God 
unto salvation, to all them thai believe " 

Some are ready to speak of a confessional, of 
absolution, and other Romish absurdities. — 
All this belongs of course to the new theoiy. — 
As yet the system is in its incipiency . Dr. Ne vin 
himself candidly confesses, that this Ritualism 
took such deep hold upon his mind, that it 
carried him its own way. It did the same in 
the case of the early bishops of Rome : it has 
done the same in England : it will do the same 
in the Reformed Church. 

Knowing these facts, I have taken "The 
Anxious Bench," as the production of Dr. 
Kevin, and have used his arguments against an 



15 



extreme, as proof of the utter falsehood of his 
own extreme. It is certainly a remarkable cir- 
cumstance, that a Protestant minister should be 
found to be so severe against one extreme, and 
yet live to go to the opposite extreme. This 
Dr. Nevin has done. Doubtless, he would now 
shudder at the thought of charging home upon 
Rome the fearful words he once used, when he 
said — Rome is the most stupendous system of 
quackery the ivorld has ever seen. 

The parallel between extremes must have 
lines in common. The same arguments, Dr. 
Xevin used to overthrow the pretensions of 
" The Anxious Bench System," will be found to 
hold against his own extreme. For this reason, 
it will be seen in some parts of this Volume, 
that no one could sit in judgment, in his own 
case, more conscientiously than Dr. Nevin. — 
His system, when weighed in his own balance, 
is found to be miserably wanting. He con- 
demns himself. To understand fully the force 
of this kind of self-condemnation, the reader 
should have a copy of "The Anxious Bench,' 1 
in order to compare the two Tracts. 

In the Introduction, I state the principle un- 
derlying this New Altar System : . showing that 
the great question to be met and fairly discuss- 
ed, centres in principles* and not simply in 



16 



doctrines. The principle held by Dr. Nevin is 
essentially that of Rome : if right, let the truth 
be clearly shown: if wrong, let his error be 
exposed. Allow the system to go forward, and 
soon improvements will be demanded. This 
has been the history of Ritualism : no excep- 
tion in the present case. The Reformed 
Church has always been Liturgical: not Ritu- 
alistic. Ministers and people want a good 
Liturgy : they do not want a semi-Roman sys- 
tem of Ritualism. For this reason, I have 
tried to be plain in my statements of what this 
Anglo-Roman system involves. Already in 
England the sad effects are plain. A recent 
Commission of Inquiry "shows that many 
churches are fast becoming almost indis- 
tinguishable from Romish churches. The new 
vestments copy exactly the papal forms, these 
being regarded as the highest authority as to 
the usage of antiquity. In man}' parishes, 
confessionals are established and penances are 
imposed. Thus a young lady in Brighton, for 
sins of temper, was made to kneel on a marble 
slab four hours at night ; on bare knees, re- 
peating penetential psalms and prayers. These 
confessionals are in some respects more objec- 
tionable than the Romish, being located in less 
public places — in vestries and quiet chapels, 



IT 



secluded from observations." Again, an Eng- 
lish Roman Catholic paper states that "thirty 
years ago there were but three Catholic priests 
in England, converts from Protestantism. — 
There are now about one hundred and sixty 
priests, formerly in orders of the English Es- 
tablishment, and more than two hundred lay- 
men, who have renounced Protestantism and 
joined the Roman Church." 

These are the effects already manifest in 
England. Allow this Anglo-Roman system to 
gain a foot-hold in the Reformed Church, and 
soon the same sad results. It is high time 
that the Reformed Church should know what 
this system really involves. Dr. Xevin may 
admire the Anglo-Roman system : no one finds 
any fault with him for entertaining his individ- 
ual views : but he has no right to attempt in 
this wholesale way to decide matters of such 
vital importance for the whole Church : he has 
no right to use his influence, in trying: to sway 
the judgment of younger ministers in favor of 
a theory that is not German Reformed. 

The Reformed Church will never endorse the 
theoiy underlying this Book : the people will 
never accept the system it teaches as being- 
Reformed : it has found its way into the 
Church, but it is not of the Church. 



18 



Trusting in the great Shepherd of Zion to 
use this effort, as it may please Him, the Au- 
thor commends the important subject examin- 
ed in this Yolume, to the prayerful attention of 
all who love the Church of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

A. S. Y. 

York, Pa., 1868. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction. - ♦ 19 

CHAPTER I. 

Design of the Tract. Occasion for Inquiry. Im- 
portance and Solemnity of the Subject 61 



CHAPTER II. 

The merits of the New Altar not to be measured by 
its popularity ; nor by its seeming success. Circum- 
stances in which it is found to prevail. No spiritual 
force required to give it effect 88 

W 

CHAPTER III. 

Nature of quackery. To rely on forms shows in- 
ward weakness. High-Churchism a substitute for 
true strength. Where it is in honor, ample space is 
found for novices and qu-icks 109 

CHAPTER IV. 

Action of the New Altar. It creates a false issue 
for the conscience. Unsettles true seriousness. 
Usurps the place of the Cross. Results in wide- 
spread, lasting, spiritual mischief 131 

CHAPTER V. 

The New Altar vindicated on insufficient grounds ; 
1. As bringing the sinner to decision ; — 2. As involv- 
ing him in a committal ; — 3. As giving force to his 



20 



purpose -4. As a penetential discipline ;~5. As 
necessary for the purpose of instruction 6. As 
opening the way for prayer 159 

CHAPTER VI. 

The System of the New Altar tends to disorder. — 
Connects itself readily with a vulgar and irreverent 
style in religion. No free prayer in public. Influ- 
ence unfavorable to deep, earnest piety. Relation 
of the system to that of the Catechism 184 

CHAPTER VII. 

System of the Catechism. Its theological ground 
and constitution. Its general methods and forms of 
action. Historical illustrations 215 



I 



ERRATA. 



Page 11. Ninth line, read Heidelberg , for Heidleburg. 
" 96. Seventeenth line, read crowds, for crows. 
" 119. Seventh line, read exorcise, for exercise. 
" 146. Sixth line, read laver, for lover. 
" 148. Twenty-fifth line, read impotence, for impor- 
tance. 




§ 1. THE PATRIARCHAL ALTAR. 

The first altar, of which mention is made in 
the Bible, was erected by Xoah after leaving 
the ark. This altar was called the Patriarchal 
Altar, because the patriarch himself built it, 
and as a priest offered sacrifices upon it. — 
"And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord ; 
and took of every clean beast, and of every 
clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the 
altar." Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, each built 
an altar unto the Lord. 

The patriarch stands in his family a repre- 
sentative of God in the earth. Officiating as a 
priest at the altar, he symbolizes a great truth. 
God did not leave the world, when man became 
a sinner; but was still a ki God near at hand 
and not afar off." Rest oration was not a thino* 

55 



22 THE NEW ALTAR. 

impossible : God had promised redemption. — 
With faith in the divine promise, the patriarch 
leads the devotions of his family, thus typify- 
ing the great Sacrifice, on which he himself 
was no less dependent in order to salvation, 
than his children. 



§ 2. THE JEWISH ALTAR. 

In the Jewish Tabernacle, and afterwards in 
the Temple, there were two Altars : — one for 
the sacrifices, the other for the incense : the 
table on which the shew-bread was placed, is 
sometimes called an altar. 

First: "The altar belonging to the taber- 
nacle on which the sacrifices were placed, was 
called the altar of burnt-offerings. This altar 
was also called, the Brazen Altar. It was a 
hollow square live cubits in length and breadth 
and three in height. The sides were made of 
Shittim-wood and overlaid with brass. The top 
of the altar is supposed to have bee n covered 
with earth : on this the sacrifices were burned. 
Mention is made of the following utensils as 
belonging to this altar: pan* to receive the 
ashes, shovels, basins, flesh-Jiooks and fire-pans . 
The word rendered fire-pans, is sometimes 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



23 



translated eensers : again, it is translated. 
snuff-dishes: all these were made of brass. 

The altar of burnt-offering, in the Temple 
built by Solomon, was larger. It is said, "Solo- 
mon made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the 
length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth 
thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof*" — 
Of the altar in the second temple, no account 
is given. Josephus thus describes the altar 
built by Herod : "Before this temple stood the 
altar, fifteen cubits high, and equal both in 
length and breadth, each of which dimensions 
was fifty cubits. The figure it was built in was 
a square, and it had corners like horns, and the 
passage up to it was by an insensible acclivity 
from the South. It was formed without any 
iron tool, nor did any iron tool so much as 
touch it at any time.' 1 

Second : The Altar of Incense. This was 
sometimes called the Golden Altar. It was 
placed between the table of shew-bread and 
the golden candlestick, in the Most Holy Place. 
The altar of incense in the tabernacle was made 
of Shittim-wood, overlaid with gold. In size 
it was one cubit in length and breadth, and 
two cubits in height. The altar of incense in 
the temple built by Solomon, was the same in 



24 THE NEW ALTAR. 

size, but was made of Cedar, overlaid with 
gold. 



§ 3. HEATHEN ALTARS. 

Heathen nations have their altars and tem- 
ples. From the earliest period of history, we 
read of superstitious practices with regard to 
worship. All nations, even without the light 
of divine Truth as revealed in Christ, have a 
traditional i-everence for the gods. Among the 
ancient nations, India, Persia, Egypt, Babylon, 
and others, altars were built in shape as among 
the Jews. The Greek and Roman nations con- 
structed their altars round. Altars were loca- 
ted on elevated ground : sometimes in groves. 
The Apostle Paid, in his address before the 
Court of the Areopagus at Athens, declared to 
the Greeks, that in all things they were too su- 
perstitious; passing by and beholding their 
devotions, the Apostle saw an altar inscribed, 
ki To the Unknown God." 

Hesiod, a Greek writer, says : "There are 
thirty thousand gods, who are subjects of Ju- 
piter and guardians of men.' 7 The Greek na- 
tion was exceedingly superstitious. Alcibia- 
des had to fly for his life, because he treated an 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



25 



image of Mercury with irreverence. A little 
child suffered death, because having found a 
golden olive leaf from the wreath of Minerva, it 
played with it. 

Heathen temples were built on an eminence 
with the front facing the East. There were 
different apartments, the holy and the profane. 
Heathen Rome consecrated temples with great 
solemnity, leaves of trees, sacred to the presi- 
ding divinity, were scattered profusely : holy 
mater was used : vestals were present attended 
by boys, sometimes girls. All the different 
parts of the temple were solemnly set apart by 
consecration. In passing a temple, or an altar, 
the Romans always kissed the hand in respect 
for the sacred place. To this day in Roman 
Catholic countries, across or an image of some 
saint, is placed at the fountains, or at some 
other public place, for the purpose of requiring 
reverence for sacred things. 

Xo heathen nation has ever been known not 
to have an altar : a proof of the fact that there 
remains in the heart a longing after restoration 
to divine favor. Heathen altars, gorgeous 
temples, and mediating priests, can never se- 
cure rest or peace for the troubled soul, 



26 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



§ 4. THE MEANING OF THE ALTAR. 

The word, altar, is from a Hebrew root, and 
means to slay. It is not the altar, as a visible 
structure that constitutes the central idea : it 
is that which takes place at the altar. This 
does not relate to the priest, that slays the ani- 
mal, but to the fact that the animal is slain. 

The universality of sacrifices is admitted : 
all heathen nations have their altars, their 
priests, and their sacrifices. It is not so easy 
to determine the precise meaning of the He- 
brew root, from which the word, priest, is de- 
rived. Among the Greeks and Romans, the 
meaning of the word has special reference to 
one who mediates by means of sacrifices. The 
same in the religious system of Zoroaster, the 
Persian. Among the Arabs, it always denotes 
mediation. By eminent Hebrew scholars, the 
root-meaning of the word has reference to im- 
portant service rendered. 

The meaning of slaying can only be under- 
stood, when referred to the Bible. Even then, 
there is a difference of opinion as to whether 
the origin of sacrificing animals is of human, 
or divine origin. Abel "brought of the first- 
lings of his fiock," as an offering unto the 
Lord. It is not said, Abel offered up a sacri- 
fice on the altar. For this reason, it is sup- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



27 



posed that Adam was the first priest : that is. 
the first to slay an animal as a sacrifice unto 
the Lord. This was done because of Adam's 
faith in the promise, "The seed of the woman 
shall bruise the serpent's head." 

There is in the human soul a deep feeling of 
sinfulness : an alienation from God. At the 
same time, there is a felt consciousness of the 
fact, that man cannot deliver himself from the 
power and curse of sin, nor restore himself to 
the favor of God. The blood of animals, there- 
fore, does not in itself constitute an offering- 
acceptable to "God for sin. The priest, as a 
fallen and sinful being, cannot mediate between 
the soul and God. Plainly, the altar can only 
be typical : it must have reference to the one 
great Sacrifice, the Lamb of God that taketh 
away the sin of the world. 



§ 5. THE CHRISTIAN ALTAR. 

The Apostle says: "It is not possible that the 
blood of bulls and of goats should take away 
sins." Again, "every priest standeth daily min- 
istering and offering sacrifices, which can never 
take away sins." The Christian Altar is one 
altar ; there is one Great Priest, even Christ the 



28 



THE NEW ALTAB, 



Lord. "This man, after he had offered one sac- 
rifice for sins, forever sat down on the right 
hand of God." "By one offering he hath per- 
fected forever them that are sanctified." 

The same Apostle speaks of the tabernacle as 
standing only "in meats and drinks, and divers 
washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on 
them until the time of reformation." The time 
of reformation is at hand, when Christ, the 
Great Priest of good things to come, is really 
present. He enters once into the Holy Place to 
obtain eternal redemption for all who believe. 
The vail of the temple is rent in twain ; the be- 
lieving soul can now go into the holy of holies 
by the blood of Jesus. No priest is needed in 
order to reach the blessed Christian Altar. The 
Saviour has power, as the true Goclman, to offer 
Himself as a Sacrifice for the sin of the world. 

Here it is, that the soul reaches the inmost 
centre of the great plan of salvation. Not what 
the human priest can do, but what Christ him- 
self does ; not the sacrifice that priests offer, 
but the blessed Sacrifice that Christ offers, se- 
cures pardon and peace. Not in the flesh ; not 
in outward forms or ceremonies, but in and 
through the Spirit, the soul possesses the con- 
sciousness of access to Christ. Like many 
streams flowing into one great river, so all the 



THE NEW ATTAR. 



29 



forms and ceremonies of the Jewish altar come 
to a perpetual end in the Sacrifice once offered 
by Christ. 



TWO THINGS MUST BE OBSERVED. 

First. The christian has a joyful confidence 
of access to the holiest of all by the blood of 
Jesus. This form of expression is figura- 
tive, and has reference to the Old Testament 
festival of the Atonement. In observing 
this festival the high-priest must have died, 
had he gone into the holiest of all, without 
having first sprinkled himself with blood. 
The christian needs no such priest now to 
enter for him, but sprinkled with the blood 
of Jesus, he may enter with joyful confidence 
into the holiest of all bv this new and living 
way ; this way of the Cross. 

This blessed way is open to all penitent souls, 
because the vail separating the holiest of all, was 
rent in twain. "The act of spiritual entrance to 
the paternal heart of God, corresponds to the 
local entrance into the holiest of all ; the inter- 
nal blotting out of guilt through the atoning 
death of Christ, corresponds to the local rend- 
ing of the vail." Christians have u a Great 



30 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



Priest over the house of God." Christ is the 
Great Priest, "in whom the Levitical priesthood 
as well as the office of high-priest, is not only 
fully realized, but forever ended. The Apostle 
says, "let us draw near with a true heart. 7 ' Not 
to enter this holiest of all, not to go to Christ, 
must be regarded as the greatest of sins. To 
go, a true heart is required. Not to a Jewish, 
and much less to a heathen Altar, does the peni- 
tent soul go ; not by means of any outward 
forms or ceremonies, not even by presenting a 
sacrifice, but with a true heart, must access to 
Christ be sought. This true heart implies a 
deep consciousness of sin and guilt, and a long- 
ing after Christ. It is not even a painful self- 
examination to discover individual sins ; no, it 
is that deeper knowledge that leads to the con- 
sciousness of possessing sm, as that fearful evil 
which enshrines the whole being, and makes 
even the best works to be mingled with iniquity. 
Where this knowledge is found to possess the 
soul, there will be a corresponding earnestness; 
it will dispel the idea of priestly intercession 
between the soul and Christ. This knowledge 
will banish forever all confidence in self-made 
atonements ; it will leave no room for the idea 
of any other sacrifice than the Sacrifice once of- 
fered by Christ; it will forever annihilate the 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



31 



possibility of merit in good works, in faith as 
such, in church creeds or confessions. A true 
heart is the only requisite necessary in order to 
direct access to Christ. "A true heart is such 
a heart as regards itself, the person in its total- 
ity, in the mirror, not of a means of grace, or an 
institution of grace, but in the mirror of t\\e per- 
son of Jesus Christ, and asks itself whether it 
loves the Saviour above all things else. 7 ' 

"Means of grace or an institution of grace," 
can only be appreciated, can only be properly 
used, when the truly awakened soul has thus 
gone to Jesus ; does really "love the Saviour 
above all things else.'' 

Second : This true heart is associated with 
a "full assurance^ of faith" It is not a faith 
that assents, as in the case of certain Hebrews, 
to the fact that Christ is the Messiah ; it is not 
a faith, as in the Romish Church, that be- 
lieves without knowledge. This kind of faith 
leans on the miserably weak crutches of a hu- 
man priesthood, and on these would go limping 
f into heaven. A full assurance of faith is no half- 
faith ; a faith one has, who belongs only to the 
outward, or formal church, attends divine ser- 
vice, and when death approaches, then asks the 
comforts and consolations of grace ; and yet in 
life only measured out a part of the heart in a 



32 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



dead and formal way, in the outward forms and 
ceremonies of worship — no, not this kind of 
faith, but a a full assurance of faith." This 
blessed gift none but Christ Himself can im- 
part. 

To love Christ, is one thing ; to belong to the 
formal church in and through forms and cere- 
monies, is quite a different thing. To go to 
Christ, there must be a true, undivided heart; 
an undying longing for complete deliverance 
from sin and guilt. Only to the penitent soul 
thus coming to the Christian Altar, will Christ 
grant this "full assurance of faith." This bless- 
ed gift does not come through mediating hu- 
man priests ; it does not come by virtue of any- 
thing the penitent soul can do — it is Christ's 
blessed gift, and that too, altogether independ- 
ent of any human merit. Going to the priest, 
going to the church, will not avail; the peni- 
tent soul must go weeping to Calvary. Only 
when thus at the cross will Christ, the "Great 
Priest," apply to the soul by His Spirit the 
blood of the Sacrifice ; only then can the peni- 
tent enter the true kingdom of grace, the true 
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Having gone to Christ, and being in the pos- 
session of a true heart and f ull assurance of 
faith, there will be the fruit and the effect— 



THE NEW ALTAR, 



33 



This the Apostle affirms in immediate connec- 
tion, as consisting in having the "heart sprin- 
kled from an evil consciousness :" — there exists 
a clear consciousness of sin being pardoned. — 
This peace once in the soul, the Apostle urges 
immediate duty. In the Church, the same Sa- 
vior has provided the green pastures of his love, 
and the still waters of his grace. For this 
reason, Jesus says, with reference to his 
Church, "J am the door, by me if any man en- 
ter in, he shall find pasture" Christ not only 
gives life to the soul, but has provided for 
growth in the divine life. Only those who 
know Jesus by having gone personally to Him, 
really know the blessedness of entering through 
Him, as the Door, into the true Church — the 
kingdom of grace. All who have climbed over 
the wall of ceremonialism, and by this means 
are found in the formal Church, without hav- 
ing first gone to Christ, the Saviour Himself 
calls "thieves and robbers:" He adds, "They 

COME BUT FOR TO STEAL." 

Entrance into the true Church of Christ, 
does not begin with entrance into the formal 
Church. The formal is necessary in order to 
growth in the divine life : all well know that 
actual life is necessary before growth in life is 
possible. aSo one made alive in Christ may 



34 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



for a moment think of living away from the di- 
vinely-appointed means of grace. Baptism, the 
Lord's supper, are means of grace — but only to 
those who are made alive in Christ. The same 
is true of prayer, the preaching of the Gospel : 
though not precisely in the same sense, yet 
these also are means of grace. The Christian 
Altar requires all this : baptism, the Lord's 
supper, fervent prayer, attendance on the 
preachin g of the Gospel, and at all times, the 
faithful studying of the Word of God. It in- 
cludes an altar of prayer in the family : par- 
ents must teach their children to pray, to read 
the Word of God : they must love to pray with 
and for their children, that they may grow up 
in the fear and admonition of the Lord. This 
is implied, on the part of parents in the bap- 
t*ei"£ of their children. 

It v ill bo seen that The Christian Altar 
is s. truly spiritual altar: all christians bring 
their offerings and as priests in Christ, present 
themselves with all they have and are to Christ; 
not for a day, or a week, or a few years, but for 
life ; not a part of the heart, or a part of life, 
but the whole heart and the whole life. Blessed 
are all those who truly know Christ, and have 
thereby found The Christian Altar. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



35 



§ 6, THE NEW ALTAR. 

The New Altar is not the patriarchal altar ; 
it is not the Jewish altar ; it is not the heathen 
altar ; much less can it ever be the blessed 
Christian Altar. 

Its History. It is assumed by those who 
favor this New Altar, that it is of Apostolic 
origin. No one has ever attempted to prove 
this ; no one can prove it. On the other hand, 
the Apostles positively condemn many practices 
that belong to this altar. This is evident from 
the fact, that there were those during the Apos- 
tolic age, who tried to bring this altar into the 
Christian Church. It was not an easy thing for 
Gentiles on leaving their heathen temples, in 
which the priests wore cost!v robes, and where 
importance was attached to a great amount of 
outward show, to become accustomed to the 
plain and simple worship peculiar to the service 
of Christ. It was equally hard, for the Jews to 
give up the idea of their superiority over the 
Gentiles, and the ceremonial forms of the taber- 
nacle and temple. To the Jewish mind, out- 
ward ceremonialism seemed peculiarly .fascina- 
ting. This was natural. God had been a Father 
to the Jews as to a chosen people ; the Divine 
2 



36 



THE NEW ALTAR, 



Presence had gone with them by day and by 
night ; in the tabernacle and in the temple, God 
had spoken to the people through the high- 
priest and the priests. That all this should 
forever pass awaj^, seemed strange to the Jewish 
mind. 

The formal tendency soon manifested itself 
among those who professed to be christians. — 
The Apostle Panl rebukes this tendency with 
great earnestness. On one occasion at Autioch, 
he even reproved Peter for encouraging the 
Jewish Christians in their notions about the ne- 
cessity of observing the forms of the ceremo- 
nial law. He also reproved the Gentile-Chris- 
tians for offering sacrifices to dumb idols. "We 
write unto them that they abstain from pollu- 
tions of idols." 

The Apostles wore no costly robes ; the}?- used 
no pots of, smoking incense; no jingling bells; 
no pompous array of vestal boys ; no exciting 
music ; no, none of this. They preached Christ ; 
the necessity of repentance and faith ; the im- 
portance of prayer ; the duty of searching the 
Word of God. Those who have "teamed Christ" 
are to receive the sacraments. 

The same order was .observed in all the 
churches during the lives of the Apostolic 
Fathers. Ignatius. Polycarp and others, speak 



THE NEW ALT All, 



3-1 



of the simplicity of the order of Christian Wor- 
ship. Barnabas rebukes the tendency to use 
outward forms. Speaking of Christ, Barnabas 
says: "He hath revealed to us that He needs 
neither sacrifices, nor burnt-offerings, nor obla- 
tions." He then quotes the words of the 
prophet : "What is the multitude of your sacri- 
fices unto me, saith the Lord?" "Incense is an 
abomination unto me." Evidently there were 
those in the days of Barnabas, who wished* to 
make it a part of Christian worship to burn in- 
cense and to offer up sacrifices. He adds: "We 
ought, therefore, being possessed of understand- 
ing, to perceive the gracious intention of our 
Father; for He speaks to us, desirous that we, 
not going astray like them, should ask how we 
may approach Him. To us, then, He declares 
'A sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit.' 
We ought, therefore, carefully to inquire con- 
cerning our salvation." Speaking of tbe evil 
of trusting to outward forms, Barnabas says : 
••We take earnest heed in these last days ; for 
the whole past time of our faith will profit us 
nothing, unless now in this wicked time we also 
withstand coming sources of danger" 

It is easy to see that there was a strong ten- 
dency, during the age of the Apostolic Fathers, 
to bring into the Christian Church many of the 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



Jewish customs; also ceremonies that were pe- 
culiar to the heathen order of worship This 
tendency becomes manifest in a disposition to 
encourage forms of worship peculiar to the New 
Altar System, the history of which properly he- 
gins with Victor, bishop of Rome, A. P. 190. 

Its Principle: It is not always an easy 
thing to discover the principle upon which a 
system rests. The New Altar is the represen- 
tative of a peculiar order of worship, as well as 
a certain system of theological thinking. It is 
not. strictly speaking. Christian. The Saviour 
gave his Apostles no directions as to the use of 
pictured robes, jingling bells, pots of incense, 
vestal boys, burning candles, and other hea- 
thenish forms and ceremonies. All know this; 
and yet it is gravely asserted that the order of 
worship ought to develop. True, but there can 
be no connection between the spiritual worship 
of Apostolic times, and this kind of outward 
pomp and show. The Brahmin priest of India 
might as well bring in his claim to a develop- 
ment; so too, the Mohammedan priests of Mecca. 
These priests wear their robes; they stand 
around an altar; they have pots of incense, and 
various outward forms and ceremonies. But 
what connection between Brahminism and 
Christian Worship? It is blasphemy to 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



39 



think of any connection. The same is true of 
these Romish superstitions. 

The claim to any kind of respect for this Xew 
Altar system must be made to rest upon a dif- 
ferent foundation. It is assumed that the min- 
istry is a special priesthood. Xothing can be 
'more false. It is the very fact that ministers of 
the blessed Gospel are not priests in this sense, 
that constitutes the true glory of the Christian 
system. Christ explicitly teaches that the vail 
of the temple has been rent in twain ; there is, 
therefore, no wall of partition preventing the 
true believer from going direct to Christ, 
who is Himself the Great Priest. This is the 
^glorious truth taught by the Apostles ; it is the 
foundation-truth of the Church of Christ ; it is 
the blessed truth clearly recognized by all true 
Protestants. ~No Priesthood to offer sacrifices 
is recognized as belonging to the Christian sys- 
tem. The Apostles teach, that all Christians 
are priests to offer up unto God the sacrifice of 
broken and contrite hearts. 

This false view of the ministry early entered 
the Church. Irenaeus was the first to pervert 
the Apostolic doctrine. True, Ignatius already 
entertained a false view of the Episcopate. The 
Apostolic Fathers did not attempt to develop 
any systematic theory of t^c Church. For this 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



reason, Ignatius in his Epistle to the Smyrna> 
ans says: " Wherever Jesus Christ is, there the 
Catholic Church is." This is a vastly different 
principle from that taught afterwards by Xrena> 
as, who says : u Wherever the Church is, there 
the Spirit of God is." This principle of Treme- 
ns is the foundation-idea of the New Altar 
System. Not, Wherever Christ is known, there 
the Church is, which is the true Apostolic doc- 
trine ; no, not this, but a priestly hierarchy first 
in order to the existence of the unity and per- 
petuity of the Church of Christ, Virtually this 
is putting the body of Christ before Christ Him- 
self ; it is sending an imaginary , ghostly phan- 
tom into the world, instead of allowing Christ 
Himself to be the living, working, speaking 
Christ ever present in the world in order to 
gather, defend and preserve to Himself a 
Church. 

In the use of the word Church. Ireueeiis lias 
reference to the formal Church. Victor, bishop 
of "Rome, agreed with Tremens. The Romish 
Church to this day teaches the same view. Lit- 
tle did Iremvus suppose that this principle 
could lead to the fearful corruptions of Rome. 
A principle, however, is a principle ; the gross 
absurdities of Rome must be regarded as the 
legitimate fruits. Tjjfullian taught this same 



THE NEW ALTAR* 



4] 



view. Cyprian defended it with great earnest- 
ness and power. At the same time, he protest- 
ed most solemnly against the absurd pretensions 
of Rome ; all this did not avail. Rome and 
Cyprian agreed as to principle ; they disagreed 
as to development. 

Cyprian taught that the penitent soul cannot 
go directly to Christ ; only in and through the 
formal Church is access to the Saviour possible. 
This view is in accordance with Cyprian's hie- 
rarchical idea of the ministry ; it is also in per- 
fect harmony with the teachings of the Romish 
Church. To attempt to deny, would only be a 
work of folly. The ministry, according to Rome, 
is a special priesthood ; the same view Cyprian 
taught ; this same view is taught at the present 
day by the High-Church party of England ; by 
the advocates of what is called "Mercersburg 
Hieology," and others in this country. When, 
therefore, the Revolution Party in the Reformed 
Church are charged with teaching a Romish 
view of the ministry, they need not attempt to 
deny. Better, far better, that these ministers 
had come out long ago, as true controversialists 
and stated plainly what their theory does in- 
volve. If Rome is right, then surely there 
can be no disgrace in being called a Romanist ; 
if Rome is wrong, certainly Protestant ministers 



42 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



ought to beware how they teach doctrines taught 
by Rome. 

The fact that Irenaeus, Tertullian, Cyprian, 
and other bishops of the early Church, did re- 
gard themselves as priests in the same sense as 
the bishops of Rome, is too clear to be denied. 
The fundamental point of difference centred 
in the idea of primacy. This was claimed by 
the bishop of Rome ; it was denied by many of 
the bishops most strenuously ; Cyprian partially 
admitted the claim. 

To attempt to prove that this view of the 
ministry has any place in the Protestant Church, 
is simply preposterous in the extreme. The 
wonder is that any reasonable scholar would 
attempt such a thing. Why not deal fairly with 
the whole subject ? If this view be the correct, 
Apostolic idea, then Protestantism as a whole, 
is a universal lie. How any minister holding 
this theoiy can remain in the Protestant Church, 
is and ever must be, a fact hard to understand. 
Grant the truth of this hierarchical view of the 
Church, and Protestantism has no right to exist ; 
histoiy itself becomes a lie ; the world is going- 
backward into more fearful error than ancient 
heathenism. Rome is right ; the New Altar 
System is the true system. 

Not so ; Christ moves in history ; it is Christ, 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



4o 



who rules in the world as well as in the Church; 
it is Christ, who causes light to come out of 
darkness, order out of confusion, good out of 
evil. The glorious Reformation was not a thing 
of chance ; Protestantism does not exist at the 
dictation of erring man ; it is Christ's work in 
history, and, woe to that man, who will attempt 
to cast reproach upon Protestantism. The 
martyred dead will be swift witnesses for Christ ; 
let not unholy hands trifle with Christ's work. 
Understand Protestantism who can ; ignore his- 
torical facts, who dare : — all this will not solve 
the great question of the world's destiny in favor 
of Rome. Apostolic Truth will triumph ; the 
march of the world's life is onward, and not 
backward ; Protestantism stands forth as the 
hope of the nations. Errors there are, and 
errors there will be, while the world stands ; 
that is no proof that Rome is not in fearful 
error. Morbid, indeed, must be the mind that 
can lead the attack on Protestantism ; then, 
like Scipio amid the ruins of Carthage, weep 
over the desolation he aimed to bring about. 
Such seems to be the history of some who are 
now pretending to weep over Protestantism, 
while at the same time the} r render comfort to 
Rome. These childish tears only excite sym- 
pathy. Protestantism does not need any such 



44 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



mourners. Strong men are wanted ; men who 
will not fear to stand up fearlessly for Christ 
and defend Protestant truth, as being the glo- 
rious Apostolic Truth. 

•'Protestantism goes directly to Christ," 
says Dr. Schaff. Noble defence of sound doc- 
trine. While there are those who thus speak, 
the Church of Christ will go forward ; and 
Christ will always raise up the men whom he 
chooses to defend his Truth. u Protestantism 
goes directly to Christ," is the foundation-iclea 
of the Protestant Church. Deny this, refuse to 
believe tbis, and at once there is an end of true 
Protestantism. The New Altar S}^stem does 
positively deny this, and yet claims to be Prot- 
estant ! What presumption more preposterous? 
In principle, "Mercersburg Theology" is the 
theology of Rome. Its advocates may claim 
the name of Protestant theology ; this claim is 
the figment of an untruthful imagination. As 
well say, Home is not Rome. 

Its System : A system must always centre 
in a principle. There can be no contradiction 
so long as the development is consistent. A 
false principle must of course issue in a false 
system. The principle upon which The New 
Altar System rests has been stated ; the Sys- 
tem is in reality the true Romish system. A 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



4-5 



difference in minor points does not constitute 
an essential difference ; in principle there is no 
difference. There can he no middle ground. 
As well attempt to call darkness, light, as try 
to make the Romish system harmonize with 
Protestantism. It cannot be done. Protest- 
antism stands on the Apostolic principle — the 
believer goes directly to Christ. This the Xew 
Altar System denies ; this Eome denies 

Here, then, is the issue. Xot particular doc- 
trines ; not creeds ; not fonr s and ceremonies ; 
no, not these, about which a difference of opin- 
ion exists. The root of the whole question lies 
deeper ; it is a question between systems ; a 
question between the Roman principle and the 
Protestant principle ; between the Roman sys- 
tem and the Protestant system. 

The advocates of The Xew Altar in the inter- 
est of the Reformed Church, imitating the ex- 
ample of Froude, Pusey, Wilberforce, Keeble 
and others of England, have become so blinded 
to the glorious light of our true Reformed theol- 
ogy, that in their eagerness to have the Church 
adopt this Xew Altar System, the^y have taught 
some of the worst doctrines of Rome. It has 
been positively asserted, that the penitent soul 
must come first to the Church. This is precisely 
what Rome teaches. The formal Church is 



40 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



thus made to come in between the soul and 
Christ. In this way the hierarchical priest- 
hood must be regarded as mediating between 
penitent souls and Christ. Ursinus, Calvin — all 
the Reformers, rejected this false assumption. 
In this country Dr. Ranch, and after him Dr. 
Schaff, denies any such priestly prerogative. 
The same of all the eminent German theolo- 
gians of the present day. Dr. Schaff' explicitly 
says : "Protestantism goes directly to Christy 

It is taught by the advocates of "Mercers- 
bury theology" that as one man has power to 
open the door of a house to admit another, so 
has the priesthood power to open and shut the 
door to the kingdom of Jieaven. The blessed 
Saviour Himself says, "I AM the Door:" these 
presumptive priests claim to have power over 
Christ Himself: they open and shut the Door. 
What Pope ever claimed more than this ? 
What Ai*eh-bishop, bishop or priest, ever taught 
a Romish doctrine more false to Apostolic 
truth? Even the Apostles claimed no such 
power as this. 

When charged with teaching this Romish 
doctrine, these admirers o'f the Xew Altar sys- 
tem, claim that they do not teach any such 
view : that they only teach the doctrine of dis- 
cipline. This is a shallow pretence. Protes- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



47 



tantism teaches the doctrine of the keys ; but 
not the idea of a priesthood : not that the priests: 
possess this power of opening and closing 
the Kingdom of heaven. To claim the power 
as centring in the priesthood is one thing : to 
act as a Church representing the power of 
Christ, is an entirely different thing. All know 
that to err is human : all know that the Church 
is not infallible : all know that priests are both 
human and fallible. The precious interests of 
the soul cannot be trusted absolutely to any 
such fallible decisions. Christ has committed 
no such power to any : He is Himself Head of 
his Church. Ministers are Christ's servants : 
they are to represent Christ in so far as erring 
beings can represent the blessed and perfect 
Saviour. Ministers may err : Christ never 
errs : ministers may be deceived : Christ knows 
the heart. 

This Xew Altar System recognizes the con- 
fessional. Mercersburg theologians try to 
deny this. The- denial is not proof. The con- 
fessional belongs to the system. If the priest- 
hood is admitted, then the confessional must 
also be admitted. How can the priest mediate, 
if confession be not made to the priest ? It is 
said by these advocates that the priest absolves. 
not by words spoken, but by acts done. Rome 



48 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



teaches no other view. The Romish priest ab- 
solves by acts done. The Apostles claimed no 
such power. Paul says : "Sirs, why clo ye these 
things ? We also are men of like passions with 
you, and preach unto 3^011, that ye should turn 
from these vanities unto the living God." 

This power of absolution, it is said, is always 
at hand to be used. Of course the priests are 
present : they have power to grant pardon and 
peace, or they can refuse. If the confession 
be not satisfactoiy, they can close the Door 
that opens into the Kingdom of heaven. Alas ! 
it were a fearful thing thus to trifle with Christ. 
The salvation of one soul is more precious to 
Christ than worlds : and 3^et, this false sy stem 
trusts the safety of the soul's eternal interest 
absolutely to the judgment of a sinful being ! 
Consistency would require, that these priests 
should be infallible in order to any such fear- 
ful trust : this, however, cannot be. Facts will 
not warrant airy r such assumption. To meet 
the case, it is asserted that there is a difference 
between the individual acts of the priest, and 
his official acts. The Word of God teaches 
no such view : practical observation will not 
warrant any such distinction. The minister 
has no power in and through himself: his mind 
is his individual mind : he is not inspired : lie 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



49 



may err: -common experience proves that he 
does err. both in his individual and official ca- 
pacity. 

It is sometimes said by the Revolutionists 
that a wrong construction is put upon this idea 
of absolution. The system only intends to 
teach that the priest announces pardon in the 
name and b} r the authority of Christ. This is 
a pitiful way of begging the question. If no 
power is given by Christ to the priest, as a 
priest, this absolution is only an unmeaning 
form. The Word of God grants to all Chris- 
tians, the blessed right to assure the truly peni- 
tent, that Christ is ready to pardon, if person- 
al application is made to Him. This is not 
what is meant b}^ the doctrine of absolution : 
if so, why should these Mercersburg Theolo- 
gians sa}^ and teach, that, without such an act, 
in which our pardon is certified to us. our 
hearts cannot possess a full and satisfactory 
sense of forgiveness. 

If words mean anything, then this Xew Altar 
System, in the interest of the Reformed Church, 
does teach the same view that is clearly taught 
by Rome. That the system has not been as 
fully developed, all will admit. This does not 
ignore the fact that the system is identically 
the same. For this reason, it is positively as- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



serted that the Reformed Church does not rati 
away this doctrine, simply because Rome abused 
it. Plainly, it is here admitted that the system 
is the same, the only difference being that Rome 
abused the system. This being the positive 
admission, it seems strange that these Revolu- 
tionists protest against being called Romanists. 
In England, the system is more fully develop- 
ed : there "many churches are fast becoming in- 
distinguishable from Romish churches. The 
new vestments copy exactly the papal forms. — 
In many parishes confessionals are established, 
and penances imposed. Thus a young lady in 
Brighton, for sins of temper, was made to sit 
on a marble slab, for four hours at night, on 
bare knees, repeating penetential psalms and 
prayers. 7 ' This is High-Church Anglicanism : 
this is The Xew Altar System, as now being 
admired in England. To attempt to deny that 
the confessional belongs to the system, is utter- 
ly vain. These Revolutionists in the Reform- 
ed Church, well knew that any attempt to es- 
tablish the absurd system as it has been devel- 
oped in Rome, would utterly fail. Even Rome 
did not commence in any such imprudent way : 
the High-Church Anglicans did not begin by 
stating all that belongs to the system. The 
same in this case. Victor, bishop of Rome. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



51 



only taught what these Ritualists teach : the 
work of development went on slowly. The sys- 
tem unfolded itself gradually. 

In the Reformed Church, the development 
lis making progress. Xot only is the priest 
able to open and close the Kingdom of heaven : 
ie is able to hold in himself the fullness of 
l^eace, even in the case of those alreacty in the 
lingdom. Of the Christian, it is said, when 
ajler baptism, he sins through infirmity, he can- 
not, be sure of pardon till his absolution is 
spoken. This is "Mercersburg Theology!" — 
Tri\e, this kind of doctrine has been appro- 
priately named : it is from Alercersburg : ftt is 
surely not from the Reformed Church : it is 
not the theology of the Heidelberg Catechism: 
it is far more Anglican, as has been admitted, 
than it is German. Fronde, Puse}^, Keeble, 
Wilberforce and others, teach this kind of An- 
glo-Roman theology. The Christian must go 
to the confessional! If unwilling to do this, 
then he cannot be sure of pardon, because his 
absolution has not been spoken ! Alas ! this 
"Mercersbufg Theology," — this Xew Altar S} T s- 
tem would send our Reformed fathers to per- 
dition, simply because the^y did not go to the 
priest, to the confessional, in order to receive 
this absolution ! And we too are among the 



52 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



heathen Gentiles, as Rome teaches, and as 
these Revolutionists are trying to teach ! Im- 
agine the surprise to be tolcl, that all this is 
sound Protestant theology ! If so, then Pro- 
testantism has stolen the robe of Romanism 
to cover its own inherent shame and weak 
ness. 

Not so : this is not Protestantism. Theie 
need be no alarm. This is not the first at- 
tempt Rome has made through her admirers 
to deceive : nor will it be the last. 

This New Altar System goes farther. — 
Quite consistently does Rome ignore the right 
of private judgment \: This in due time destroys 
individual rights. Accordingly, Rome teaches 
that the laity must not be allowed the right of 
reading the Word of God ; private judgment 
cannot be tolerated. Ignorance in Rome is 
regarded as the mother of devotion : — with 
regard to the laity, this is emphatically true. 
To break up this fearful curse of the Romish 
S}rstem, was one of the grand characteristics 
of the Reformation. Now, however, the same 
battle must be fought over. Some of the advo- 
cates of this New Altar System in the Reformed 
Church have said, and that too openly and 
boldly, that the Word of God ought not be 
promiscuously circulated. No wonder that 



THE NEW ALTAR. 53 

i there is opposition to the American Bible So- 
Iciety ; the American Sunday School Union; 
lincl other Evangelical Associations for pro- 
moting the spread of the glorious Gospel of 
yhrist.* It is asserted that these Associa- 
tions are unchurchly. Of course they are in 
tie Romish sense. They never pretended to 
ally such chuix-hliness as Rome teaches : they 
do not pretend to sympathize with Anglo- 
Rdfnanists, nor with the spirit of these Rev- 
olutionists in the Reformed Church. These 
Associations are Churchly in the Protestant 
sense of the word. Like all true Protestants, 
the friends of these Associations believe in 
the universal diffusion of knowledge : in the 
right, as well as privilege, of every child of the 
race to read the Word of God. It is believed 
by all true Protestants that when the Saviour 
says : 44 Search the Scriptures, for in them ye 
think 3^e have eternal life, and they are they 
that testify of me," He intends that all shall 

* 

"It does not square with Presbyterianism, and Tract- 
Fociety-igm, and Sunday School Union-ism." — Corres- 
pondence of Messenger. 

This is "M ercersburg Theology!" Alas! this is also 
Anglo-Bomanism. Nay, Home herself does not speak 
more vainly. Presbyterianism thus judged ! If this be 
not the spirit of intoleration and sectism, it were hard to 
find a true example. 



54 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



know the blessed Word, which is Hhe power 
of God unto salvation to them that believe." 

Only a few ministers in the Reformed 
Church have any love for this Romish systen. 
As for the laity, it is hardly possible, that any 
ever imagine that such absurdities are really 
involved in this New Altar theology. The few 
advocates of the system have been allowed to 
go on from time to time defending this in- 
novation. Xo one supposed, that ministers, 
who had solemnly vowed to teach and defend 
Protestant Truth, as being in accordance with 
the Word of God, would think of such a 
thing, as dragging into the Church any such 
Anglo-Roman notions. The thing has been 
done : these views have been taught : they are 
now taught. The system is embodied in the 
Neiv Order of Worship. The entire system 
is not brought into view. There are reasons 
for being prudent. Even the devil, it is said, 
clothes himself in the garments of light in or- 
der the more effectually to deceive. Revolu- 
tion ists never fully discover beforehand what 
the issue is to be : the same in this case. 

The Reformed Church will never go to an 
extreme : it does not belong to her historical 
life to do this. The laity of the Reformed 
Church will never submit to this Anglo-Bo- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 55 

man system. Our Reformation life is too pre- 
cious : the blood of our martyred dead cries to 
from the ground, to arise and defend the 
3rious doctrines of our beloved Zion. There 
wil be those who will fearlessly stand up for 
Christ : they will not be intimidated : they 
will oppose the superstitions of Rome : they 
will refuse to admit into the Reformed Church 
the Anglo-Roman forms and ceremonies of 
England : they will oppose these Revolution- 
ists : they will stand by the Protestant theol- 
ogy of the Reformed Church. 

Its Practice: In actual practice the Hew Al- 
tar System begins with the outward* To build 
a secure house, a wise man will first lay a firm 
foundation. The foolish build on the sand. — 
In vain do we search the Word of God to find 
a single passage in which it is taught, that 
the foundation of the Christian's hope centres 
in any outward ceremon}* : it centres in Christ. 
But it is affirmed that salvation is made to 
reach the soul in and through forms. This is 
equally false. Xo such doctrine is taught in 
the Scriptures. Grace is communicated in and 
through the ordinances of Christ's appoint- 
ment — but not salvation itself. Life first, 
before duty, is the plain teaching of Christ. — 
The Word of God does not teach that Christ 



56 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



has appointed a medium of salvation. Christ 
is Himself the only Mediator : He has given 
His Mediatorial Power to no priestly order. — 
Ursinus truly sa}^s : "Remission of sin is grant- 
ed by God only." u Xo one can forgive sin, 
except the person against whom the sin is com- 
mitted. Now no oi] e is offended at sin, except 
God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. — 
Therefore no one else can forgive sin ; con- 
sequently no creature can grant anything, 
which rightfully belongs to God." 

To suppose that remission of sin is condi- 
tioned by any outward form, would be to over- 
throw the Gospel idea of the Atonement. The 
blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, is the 
teaching of the Word of God. The formal, 
in the nature of the case, can only be a sign 
and seal of the blood of Christ: not that it 
stands connected with, in, or under the blood 
of Christ. As a sign and seal, the formal is 
a medium in and through winch grace is com- 
municated. "This grace is not salvation: it is 
that which Christ has wisely ordained in or- 
der to growth in the divine life. 

This ]S T ew Altar System confounds the idea 
of salvation by faith in Christ, with the idea 
of growth in grace, which is conditioned in 
the sphere of the formal Church. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 07 

The whole system is an unmeaning and 
superstitious kind of formalism. The Xew 
Altar becomes the centre of heathenish forms 
and ceremonies — having no meaning and serv- 
ing only to deceive souls. What connection 
can there possibly be. between fancy caps, 
jingling bells, smoking pots of incense, burn- 
ing candles, and the salvation of the soul by 
a living faith in Christ ? What connection 
can there be between the use of the surplice, 
the cassock, the chasuble, the dalmatic, the 
tunicle, the manicle, the stole, the alb, and the 
preaching of the blessed Gospel of Christ ? — 
What connection between the heathenish con- 
fessional, and remission of sin by God only ? 
If men will be so foolish as to admire these 
heathenish performances, they might learn by 
going to India, and taking lessons under the 
instructions of a Brahmin priest. 

Strange that there should be found ministers 
in the Protestant Church, willing to lend their 
influence in support of such a system : stran- 
ger still, that there should be those, who even 
admire such unmeaning performances. Many 
hundreds of years passed, before all these 
absurd practices found a place in Rome : com- 
parativelv, only a few years have gone by, 
since in England this New Altar System be- 



58 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



gan to have admirers in the Anglican Church, 
Already the absurd and heathenish practices 
of the Romish Church are found to have a 
place in the Anglican Church. There are a 
few Revolutionists in the Reformed Church, 
who are aiming to bring about the same result. 

True, the} r are ready to deny that they ever 
did intend to attempt to introduce such in- 
novations. Well they may thus speak : well 
do they know that any such extreme prac- 
tices wil not be allowed in the Reformed 
Church. They must proceed cautiously, even 
as they have been trying to do. The Germans 
are not a people fond of priestly bondage; 
the spirit of the Reformation still lives. It 
will not do to begin to talk boldly about the 
introduction of the absurd practices of this 
New Altar System. 

This may serve to explain why these Revolu- 
tionists denounce in such severe terms, every 
effort to have the laity understand the practi- 
cal import of this system. All discussion 
must be stopped : all agitation of the subject 
must be suppressed. The cry of unchurch- 
liness is raised against all who do not accept 
the New Altar System, as the great power of 
God unto salvation. 

Weak, indeed, must be the system, when its 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



59 



own admirers seek in this way to gain popu- 
larity for it. It cannot stand exposure : in the 
interest of sound Protestantism, it cannot 
abide severe criticism. All this for the reason, 
it is a false system : its practice must be false. 
Well has the Apostle said: 77 "There shall be 
false teachers among you, who privily shall 
bring in damnable heresies. And many shall 
follow their pernicious ways; by reason of 
ivhom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." 



the 



N"EW ALTAB. 



CHAPTER I. 

DESIGN OF THE TRACT. OCCASION FOR INQUIRY. 
IMPORTANCE AND SOLEMNITY OF THE SUBJECT. 

It is proposed to institute a free inquiry into 
the merits of The Xew Altar, as it has been 
enlisted extensively of late years in the service 
of religion. My object will be to show that 
High- Charchism is adapted to obstruct, rather 
than to promote, the progress of true godliness, 
and that it deserves to be discouraged on this 
account. 

No one in the Reformed Church need be in- 
formed what is meant by the New Altar. Its 
nature and design have come to be as familiar 
to most people, as the nature and design of the 
Pulpit itself. Even among those who dislike it. 
there are perhaps few who have not had the op- 
portunity, at one time or another, of witnessing 



(52 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



its operation, while all are well acquainted with 
it at least in the way of description and report. 

It will be understood that the Xew Altar is 
made to stand, in this case, as the type and rep- 
resentative of the entire system of what is tech- 
nically denominated in our day, High-Church- 
ism. It is not meant by this, of course, that it 
is so bound to the system, as never to be sep- 
arated from the other parts of it, in actual prac- 
tice. It may be in use where no innovations 
besides are tolerated ; it is possible, on the other 
hand, that it may not be empk^ed by some who 
in other respects, aie wholly in this interest. 
But still, it may very fairly be exhibited, as a 
type of the system at large. This tligh-Church- 
ism forms properly a system ; and it is only in 
this view, that it is possible to estimate rightly 
its nature and character. It is not uncommon 
to class with it things of a different nature alto- 
gether ; and then a I vantage is taken of the con- 
fusion thus produced to evade the point of ob- 
jections urged against High-Churchism.* This, 
however, is sophistry of a very low order. The 

"And why should the insinuation be stated, or the in- 
ference drawn, that because Mercersburg Theolog}^ teach- 
es that the Sacrament of Baptism bears grace to the worthy 
subject of the ordinance, therefore it teaches that Baptism 
is the source, in any other sense, of this grace." Corres- 
pondence cf Reformer Messenger. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



63 



idea of Higk-Ckurckism, is just as well defined 
in itself, and as generally intelligible, in the Re- 
formed Church, as the idea of Popeiy, Metho- 
dism, or almost anything else of the same gen- 
eral character that might be named. It is only 
by a palpable abuse, that some wish to make it 
include the best things in the Christian Church 
Higk-Ckurckism, in the technical, modern sense, 
forms a particular system, involving a certain 
theory of religious action, and characterized by 
a distinctive life, which it is by no means diffi- 
cult to understand. Of this s} T stem the Kew 
Altar is the proper representative. It opens 
the way naturally to other forms of aberration, 
in the same direction, and may be regarded in 
this view, as the threshold of all that is found 
to follow, quite out to the extreme verge of Ro- 
manism. At the same time, it is the most fa- 
vorable aspect, in which the cause of High- 
Ckurckism can be presented to our view. The 
simple New Altar, as it is often used in a s ober 
way, is the most moderate and plausible shape 
the system can well take. If this then be found 



An example surely of confusion Xo orthodox Reform- 
ed minister teaches an} T other idea than that grace is 
communicated in the proper use of the Sacraments. Not 
Baptismal grace, but salvation conditioned by Baptism, 
js the Mercersburg t&wry. 



64 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



unworthy of confidence, the whole system will 
be shorn of its title to confidence at the same 
time. If the New Altar can claim no indul- 
gence, it must be idle to put in a ple'a for its 
kindred High-Churchism. All beyond this is 
only something worse. 

It is well too, that we can thus deal with our 
subject. If there be no room, as some pretend, 
for treating it in a clear and satisfactory way. 
under the title of High-Churchism, by reason of 
the confusion with which that term is used, it is 
so much the more important that we should 
substitute the particular for the general ; and 
we have reason to congratulate ourselves, on 
finding a single, well-known form of action, that 
can be taken fairly as the representative of the 
whole system. In this way our argument will 
not be abstract and vague, but pointed and 
clear. Whatever dust it might be contrived to 
raise, with regard to the proper sense of the 
term, High-Churchism, all know at least the 
meaning of the New Altar. Here then, we have 
a tangible, concrete subject, with which to deal. 
Let it serve as a specimen of the system to 
which it belongs. In this way, the system is 
characterized and distinguished. It includes 
things of the same general constitution and 
spirit with the New Altar. In trying the merits 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



65 



of this, we try at the same time all these kindred 
things and nothing more.* If any choose to in- 
corporate with their idea of High-Churchism, 
things of a different constitution and spirit en- 
tirely, it cannot be helped. But they have no 
right to force any view of this sort upon the 
present argument. Our business is with High- 
Churchism, in the proper sense ; and that we 
may not seem to run uncertainly, or beat the 
air, we characterize the system by one of its 
most familiar exhibitions. It stands before us 
in the type of the New Altar. 

Here too is the proper point, for grappling 
with the heresy of High-Churchism. It can 
answer no purpose to discountenance the sys- 
tem in general, if we lend our influence, 
theoretically or practically, to uphold the New 
Altar, forming, as it does, a legitimate step- 
ping-stone to all the system is found to em- 
brace. No satisf actor}' line can be drawn be- 
tween this and the more advanced forms of 

"The condition of the Church of England at the pres- 
ent time, presents a spectacle of the highest importance to 
Catholics. The members of the Established Church are 
now far from being agreed upon the Thirty-nine Articles. 
But another danger even more serious threatens the Na- 
tional Church, namely, Ritualism. The number cf Eng- 
lish Clergy inclining to the adoption of the Catholic dogma 
and practices, increases every year," Roman Catholic 
Paper of Paris. 



66 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



extravagance, for which it prepares the way. 
The}' will be found to involve, in the end, the 
same principle. That is a'false position, there- 
fore, hy which some excellent men allow them- 
selves to speak about thejburning of candles, 
the fumes of incense, bodily exercises in the 
way of holy bowings, while at the same time 
the Xew Altar is not only spared, but treated 
with respect and confidence, as though it had. 
come to form a part of the accredited and re- 
gular service of God's House. Men who oc- 
cup}' this position, may preach or write an 
abundance of advice on the subject of supersti- 
tions in religion ; but their advice is not like- 
ly to carry much weight with it in the end, as 
not going after all to the ground of the error 
against which it is directed. If we would utter 
an intelligible and consistent testimony against 
High-Churchism, we must make no exception, 
openly or tacitly, in favor of the New Altar. 
Here precisely is the proper point, at which to 
grapple with the whole system. 

There is occasion for the inquiry here 
proposed. It is true, indeed, that throughout 
a part of the Reformed Church the New Altar, 
after having enjoyed a brief reputation, has 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



61 



fallen into discredit.* It has been tried and 
it might have been trusted that this kind of ex- 
periment would be sufficient to drive it com- 
pletely out of use. But unfortunately this 
has not been the case. Over a part of the 
Church, it still holds its ground without any 
regard to the complete overthrow, with which 
it has been met in certain congregations. Pe- 
culiar circumstances have conspired to promote 
its credit. 

It is within the range of the Institutions, 
that life may be said to have been communi- 
cated to High-Churchism. Xo part of the 
Church is more worthy of attention at this 
time, than that which is comprehended with- 
in these limits. A vast moral change is going 
on by means of the influence of these Insti- 
tutions, involving consequences that no man 
can properly calculate. From various causes a 
deep interest is taken by the Professors in the 
defence of High-Churchism. The violent strug- 
gle being made within the Institutions, to main- 
tain this innovation in opposition to the old 



*At Carlisle, the pastor attempted to use the New 
Altar without the consent of the Congregation. The 
novelty was allowed for a while. Recently the congre- 
gation decide 1 to have the innovation removed. The 
same has been the case at other places. 



68 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



customs of the Reformed Church, is daily assum- 
ing a stronger tendency to become extreme. 
The general mind of the Church unhappily, has 
not been furnished thus far with proper protec- 
tion and guidance, in the wa}^ of a knowledge 
of the doctrines of the Heidleberg Catechism : 
the result is, that in these circumstances the 
Church at large has been exposed more or less 
at almost eveiy point to High-Church influen- 
ces, which are sure to come in from these Insti- 
tutions upon the Church, like a desolating flood 
wherever they can find room. The Professors 
have set themselves to take possession in this 
way, if possible, of the entire Church, on the 
assumption that the old forms of the Church are 
behind the spirit of the times, and deserve to be 
set aside. Their reliance of course in this work 
of revolution, is largely placed on High-Church- 
ism. Thus a whole Babel of extravagance is 
let loose upon the Church, far and wide, in the 
name of religion ; one Professor vieing with 
another in devotion to High-Churchism. In 
these circumstances, it has not been easy to 
abide by the ancient landmarks. The tempta- 
tion has been strong to fall in, at least to some 
extent, with the tide of Anglo-Romanism, as the 
only way of making war successfully on the 
sect-system in one direction, and the only way 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



69 



of counteracting the infidelity of the age in the 
other. 

This and other causes have had the effect of 
opening the way for High-Churchism to some 
extent, in the Reformed Church. Through the 
influence of the Professors, a few ministers have 
indentified themselves openly and zealously 
with the system, both in doctrine and practice. 
The "Reformed Church Messenger " which has 
a wide circulation and great influence, has lent 
its authority to recommend and support the 
system, taking every occasion to speak in its 
favor, and making continually most of its re- 
sults. The "growth" of the Church latterly, it 
is said, has very generally been carried forward 
in the interest of High-Churchism. All this is 
assumed, as is seen from the articles published 
from time to time in the Messenger. The "church- 
feeling" of the last decade of } T ears, pronounced 
by numerous correspondents of that paper, the 
strongest in the history of our Reformed Zion, 
is ascribed to the influence of this innovation. 
By this kind of confused representation, minis- 
ters having no sympathy with the system, have 
allowed themselves to become partially com- 
mitted in its favor ; with a few extremists the 
use of the New Altar, and a zeal for godliness, 
are considered to be very much the same thing. 



7 



THE NEW ALTAI*. 



It might seem indeed, as though all the inter- 
ests of religion, in the ease of the Reformed 
Church, were suspended upon the triumphant 
progress of High-Churchism.* With these advo- 
cates, this is emphatically the "great power of 
God," which must he expected to turn and over- 
turn, till old things shall fairly pass away, and 
all things become new. 'And it must be ac- 
knowledged, in so far as the Institutions at 
Lancaster and Mercersburg are concerned, that 
the system bids fair at present to go on con- 
quering and to conquer, in its own style. It 
would seem to have become an interest too 
strong within these Institutions to be resisted 
or controlled. What arc to be its ultimate issues 
and results, time only can reveal. 

All this is within the reach of the most com- 
mon observation. No one reflecting on the ac- 
tual state of things at the present time on the 
field occupied by the Reformed Church, can well 
fail to perceive, that there is full occasion for 
calling attention to the subject, which it is 
proposed to consider. An inquiry into the 
* 

"There is nothing clearer under the sun than this, 
that the Christian earnestness and zeal manifested by this 
people of late, are owing to a large extent to the study and 
use of our most excellent Order of Worship." Corres- 
pondence oj Messenger, 



THE NEW ALT AH. 



71 



merits of the New Altar, and the system to 
which it belongs, is not only seasonable and fit 
in the circumstances, but loudly called for on 
every side. It is no small question involved in 
the case. The bearing of it upon the interests 
of religion in the Reformed Church, is of fun- 
damental and vital importance. A crisis has 
evidently been reached in the history of the 
Reformed Church ; and one of the most serious 
points involved in it. is precisely this question 
of High-Churchism. Let this system prevail 
and rule with permanent sway, and the religious 
life of the Church will be widely different from 
what it has ever been. The old Reformed or- 
ganization, if it continue to exist at all, will not 
be the same Church. Its entire complexion and 
history, in time to come, will be changed by the 
course of things with regard to this point. In 
this view the march of High-Churchism at the 
present time, may well challenge our anxious 
and solemn regard. It is an interest of no com- 
mon magnitude, portentous in its aspect, and 
pregnant with consequences of vast account. 
The system is moving forward in full strength, 
and putting forth its pretensions in the boldest 
style, on all sides. Surely we have a right, and 
may well feel it a duty, in such case, to insti- 
tute an examination into its merits. 



13 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



Nor is it any reason for silence in the case, 
that we may have su ffered as yet comparatively 
little in the congregations of our denomination, 
from the influence of ministers identified with 
the Professors in the interest of High-Church- 
ism. We may congratulate ourselves that we 
have been thus favored, and that the impression 
seems to be gradually growing, that this Anglo- 
Romanism ought not to be encouraged in our 
Reformed Zion. Still, linked as these Profes- 
sors are with Anglicanism, we have reason to be 
jealous here of influences, that must in the na- 
ture of the case act upon us from without. In 
such circumstances there is occasion, and at the 
same time room, for consideration. It might 
answer little purpose to interpose remonstrance 
or inquiry, if the rage for High-Churchism were 
fairly let loose, as in England, like a sweeping 
wind, within our borders. It were idle to be- 
speak attention from the rolling whirlwind. 
But with the whirlwind in full view, we maybe 
exhorted reasonably to consider and stand back 
from its destructive path. We are not yet 
committed in favor of Anglo-Romanism, in any 
respect. We are still free to reject or embrace 
the system, as the interests of the Church, on 
calm reflection, may be found to require. In 
such circumstances precisely ^ may it be account- 



THE NEW ALTAR, 



73 



eel in all respects proper to subject the system 
to a serious examination. 

It has been intimated that it is not safe to op- 
pose and condemn this High-Churchism, be- 
cause of its connections and purpose. Its re- 
lation to ancient Christianity — of course it is 
not meant Apostolic Christianity — is sup- 
posed to invest it with a sort of sacred char- 
acter, which the friends of religion should 
at least respect, eA r en if they may not in 
all cases be able to approve. The system 
has taken hold of the "horns of the altar," 
and it seems to some like sacrilege to fall 
upon it there, or to force it away for the 
purposes of justice to any other place. It is a 
serious thing, we are told, to find fault with any 
movement, that claims to be animated by the 
Spirit of God. By so doing, we render it ques- 
tionable whether we ourselves have any proper 
sympathy with the churchly spirit of ancient 
Christianity, and furnish occasion to the world 
also to blaspheme and oppose everything of the 
kind. But this is tyrannical enough, to take 
for granted the main point in dispute, and then 
employ it as a consideration to repress inquiry 
or to silence objection. If High-Churchism can 
be shown to proceed from the Holy Ghost, or to 
be identified in any view with Apostolic Chris- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



tianity. it may well deserve our reverence and 
respect. If High-Churchism can be shown to 
be of a neutral character with regard to religion, 
harmless at least, if not positively helpful to the 
Spirit's work, it may then put in a reasonable 
plea to be tolerated in silence, if not absolutely 
approved. But neither the one, nor the other 
of these positions has been successfully main- 
tained. It is a mere trick unworthy of the 
Gospel, for any one to confound with the sacred 
idea of Christianity, things that do not belong 
to it in truth at all, for the purpose of compel* 
ling a j udgment in their favor. The very design 
of the inquiry now proposed, is to show that 
The New Altar, and the system to which it be- 
longs, have no claim to be considered either 
salutary or safe, in the service of religion. It 
is believed that instead of promoting vital god- 
liness in the congregations of the Church, it is 
adapted to hinder its progress. The whole sys- 
tem is considered to be full of peril, for the 
most precious interests of the Church, and why 
then should there be any reserve in treating the 
subject with such freedom as it may seem to 
require ? We may well feel indeed that the 
subject is solemn. All that relates to the true 
interests of Christianity, and the welfare of 
souls, is solemn ; and it becomes us to approach 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



75 



it in a serious way. But this is uo reason why 
we should close our eyes against the truth, or 
refuse to call things by their proper names. — 
This would be to trifle with sacred things truly. 

And it should be borne in mind, that the 
danger against which we need to be warned in 
this case; is not confined by any means to one 
side. It is a serious thing to profane the wor- 
ship of God, by offering upon his altar strange 
fire. Those who are so enthusiastic in advoca- 
ting this High-Churchism, should see well to it. 
that they be not themselves chargeable with the 
very sin, which they are too prone to charge 
upon those who withstand their views. It is 
surely not a case, in which ministers can be 
justified in taking up a judgment lightly, and 
with little or no reflection. Mighty interests 
are concerned in the question, whether High- 
Churchism should have any place at all in 
God's Sanctuary or not. A great responsibil- 
ity, from which any earnest minister may well 
shrink, is involved in urging the system upon a 
congregation, or in trying to give it currency 
and authority in a religious denomination. If 
it should be found after all. to be not the wis- 
dom and power of God unto salvation, but the 
fruitful source of error, an occasion of reproach 
to the Gospel, and of ruin to the souls of men. 



715 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



it would be a heavy account surely, to answer 
for any part taken in its favor. 

It is truly strange, how one-sided the patrons 
of this system show themselves, as a general 
thing, in their views and feelings with regard to 
the point now presented. They affect an extra- 
ordinary interest in the cause of "sound" Chris- 
tianity, and seem to have a pious dread of sin- 
ning against what is in some instances really 
believed to have been the faith of ancient Car- 
thage and Rome. The idea of opposing the 
work of God in the steady "growth" of High- 
Churchism, is terrible. AVhatever claims to be 
his work, then, must be respected and rever- 
enced. No matter what extreme irregularities 
may be involved, such as opposition to the cir- 
culation of the Bible, the holding of meetings 
for social free-prayer, so long as it stands before 
us in the holy garb of a work of the Spirit, it is 
counted unsafe to call it to account. The max- 
im, "Prove all things^ must be discarded, as 
well as the caution, "Believe not evert/ spirit." 
X o room must be allowed in the Messenger, or 
Review for sound criticism, where the object 
proposed is to expose this theory, and those 
who have led the way in the Church to its pres- 
ent hold upon the mind of the younger minis- 
ters. To stand on points of propriety, and in 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



77 



this way crush down earnest criticism, is re- 
garded as a solemn duty in order to save the 
chariot wheels of salvation from being clogged 
with the miserable, Puritanic, unchurchlv infi- 
delity of Protestantism, with which in behalf of 
Christ's kingdom this High-Churchism is self- 
called to fight. Meanwhile the disastrous con- 
sequences, in the way of Anglo-Roman super- 
stitions, in the name of religion, are entirety 
overlooked. Xo account is made comparative- 
ly, of the danger of bringing both the truth and 
the power of God into discredit, by countenan- 
cing pretensions to the name of Christianity, 
where the thing itself is not present. Spurious 
imitations are natural and common. Gross ir- 
regularities and extravagance, carried to the 
point of downright profanity, are actually at 
work in connection with this High-Churchism. 
The whole interest of truth is endangered for 
the time, by the assumption confidently put 
forward, that these excesses do not belong to 
the system. False and ruinous views of reli- 
gion are disseminated ; souls are thereby de- 
ceived into a false hope. Yast obstructions are 
thrown in the way of true godliness. But of 
all this, no account is made by those who are so 
sensitively jealous on the other side. The only 
alternative they seem to see is High-Churchism. 



THE NEW ALT A IIU 



or No-Church. But the difference between the 
Church of Christ and No-Church, one would 
think, is full as important, to say the least, as 
the difference between High-Churchism and No- 
Church. 

We are told, however, that the term High- 
Churchism is vague, covering in the view of 
some more than it covers in the view. of others; 
so that there is danger of encouraging preju- 
dice against the best things, as well as against 
the worst, in venturing to criticise and censure 
the whole system. In the Reformed Church it 
i» well known that confusion prevails with re- 
gard to the subject in this view. With a few, all 
active efforts in favor of serious evangelical 
piety, are branded with the reproach of Puri- 
tanism. Earnest preaching continued through 
the week, meetings for prayer, the doctrine of 
the new birth, as the work of Christ by his 
Spirit and Word, special efforts for the salva- 
tion of sinners, tract societies, missionary socie- 
ties, and benevolent societies generally — all are 
regarded by a few extreme High-Churchists 
with suspicion, or may be openly opposed, as 
belonging to the same execrable system of Pu- 
ritanism. By exposing the New Altar, we must 
expect to hear the advocates, and especially the 
Professors, cry out against ns. as though we 



THE NEW ALT AIL 



were opposing Christ, and thereby affording 
o- ood reason to all infidels to talk about our in- 
consistency. Better to be silent, than stir up 
such a bedlam of learning in the Institutions. 
Especially at this juncture, should we observe 
silence, because it has been gravely intimated 
that our Reformed Church is just waking from 
a sound sleep of about three hundred years, and 
passing through a crisis of great spiritual revo- 
lution, whose consequences no one can foresee. 

Most certainly, in such circumstances, cau- 
tion does becomes us well. We should tremble 
to touch the ark of God with unhallowed hand. 
It were only to be wished, that this might be 
seriously laid to heart, by the advocates of the 
New Altar themselves, as well as by others. 

It has already been stated that the New 
Altar is made the direct object of regard in 
this Tract, rather than High-Churchism in gen- 
eral, for the very purpose of cutting off occa- 
sion, as much as may be, from those who seek 
occasion, for confounding in this way things 
that are entirely distinct. The particular is 
made to stand for the general, in the wav of 
specimen or type, so as to exclude all that is 
not of the same complexion and spirit. If 
any choose notwithstanding to take the idea of 
High-Churchism in a different sense, they have 



80 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



a right to please themselves in so doing, if 
they see proper ; but they have no right sure- 
ly to obtrude their own arbitrary view on any 
discussion of this question. There is a broad 
difference between High-Churchism as it stands 
before us in history, and the subjective idea 
of High-Churchism as it may be found to ex- 
ist in individual minds. It is simpl}- super- 
lative impudence to say, the people ought not 
have the Bible ; that it is improper to hold 
meetings for social free-prayer; that earnest 
preaching continued through the week is of the 
same spirit, as the various devices belonging to 
the New Altar — as burning candles, pots of 
smoking incense, costly robes, and various 
theatrical peformances. Such earnest preach- 
ing of the Gospel of Christ lies in the concep- 
tion of Christian Worship, and has its origin 
in Apostolic times : this New Altar system, 
with all its vain })omp and unmeaning show, 
belongs to a much later period of "growth" — 
that of Rome. The assertion is sometimes 
made, that the idea of protracted meetings, 
now familiar and generally approved among 
Protestants, is unchurchly and Puritanic. — 
This only serves to show the ignorance of those 
by whom it is made. It is a shameful abuse 
of all right ideas of Gospel Truth to oppose 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



81 



in any way, the more rapid circulation of the 
Bible throughout the world. No right-mind- 
ed Protestant will for a moment oppose Tract 
Societies, Bible Societies, and benevolent as- 
sociations generally, simply because not under 
the control of a certain denomination. For a 
few ministers, not possessed certainly of any 
more piety and intelligence than the}^ ought 
to have in order to their sacred work, to sit in 
judgment as some of these High-Churchists 
do, argues any other spirit than that of the 
Gospel. All these agencies for the diffusion 
of religious knowledge, are the direct utter- 
ances of Christianity itself: and yet these 
extreme High-Churchists claim to have no 
sympathy whatever. One of these advocates 
of the New Altar in the Reformed Church, 
says of this new system : i; It does not square 
with Presbyterianism, and Tract Society-ism, 
and Sunday School Union-ism." The same 
may be said of the idea of revivals. In their 
true sense, they are as old as the Gospel it- 
self. Special effusions of the Spirit the Church 
lias a right to expect in every age, in propor- 
tion as she is found faithful to God's cove- 
nant ; and where such effusions take place, an 
extraordinary use of the means of grace will 
appear, as a matter of course. A revival is 



82 



THE NEW ALTAK. 



one thing: a performance, amid burning can- 
dles, flowing robes, jingling bells, fnmes of in-* 
cense, around the New Altar, is another 
thing — even though the peformance be baptized 
with the name, Christian Worship. To say. 
therefore, that Revivals and High-Churchism 
are the same, is only an idle dream. 

There is good reason to believe, that so far 
as the congregations throughout the Reformed 
Church are concerned, the people are not to be 
easily deceived. As a general thing, it is 
well known there is no affinity between the sys- 
tem represented by the Xew Altar, and the 
important interests mentioned. Even in some 
instances in which it has been found conveni- 
ent to stretch the idea of High-Churchism over 
a part of this hallowed territory, there is bet- 
ter knowledge of the true state of the case 
than is often supposed. This is clearly seen 
in smaller towns, in which Protestant ministers 
try to harmonize certain evangelical interests. 
In some instances, these High-Churchists find 
it more congenial to their sacred feelings to 
meet with the Romish priest, than to hold any 
sort of intimate relation with other Protestant 
ministers. The people cannot fail to know 
the reason why this state of things is found to 
exist. The Word of God says: "Where the 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



83 



treasure is, there the heart will be also:" if 
Protestant ministers will prefer the social pre- 
sence of Romish priests, certainly no wrong is 
done in saying, there is a treasure in Borne. 

Aidwing that there is confusion in the Re- 
formed Church in consequence of this Anglo- 
Romm movement, shall no effort be made to 
corret it, and put things in their proper 
shapf? Admit that the best practices, the 
most important interests — and what is more 
important than the circulation of the Bible — 
are openly opposed by some of the advocates 
of Hgh-Churchism, can any true follower of 
Chris] offer the shadow of a reason for spar- 
ing, dr sheltering the system under this bad 
form?! Is there no help for the Reformed 
Churcl in this predicament ? Must it be with 
us An^lo -Romanism and open war with evan- 
gelical protest ant denominations ? Is the ne- 
cessard alternative, in our case, quackery or 
death?! Rather in these circumstances, it be- 
comes 1 solemn duty to take the difficulty by 
the horrk, and reduce it to its proper posture. 
We owelt to the Reformed Church, not to 
sutler thngs so different, in a case of such 
vast monlent, to be so deplorably confounded. 
The easels one that calls loudly for light, and 
it is high time that light should be extended 



84 THE NEW ALTAR. 

to it without reserve. If it be a reigning er- 
ror to involve light and darkness in this way, 
under a common term, in the same sweeping 
censure, that is not a reason surely, vihy we 
should try to uphold the darkness for tie sake 
of the light, but a sacred requisition upon us 
rather, to insist on a clear, full discrimination 
of the element of truth from the elenent of 
error. If burning candles, pots of iicense, 
solemn priestly mummery, genuflectiois and 
prostrations around the altar, extravagance 
and priestcraft, mechanical conversion* by the 
laying on of the priest's hand, justificjtion by 
mediation, rather than by a living faith ii Christ, 
encouragement to go to the priest foi absolu- 
tion — if these things, and things in tie same 
line indefinitely, have no connectioi in fact 
with truly serious religion and the cause of 
Christianity, but tend only to briig divine 
worship into discredit, let the fact 3e openly 
proclaimed. Only in this way, may t be hop- 
ed that the reproach put upon Praestantism 
by some, under cover of connectioi with this 
Anglo-Iloman system, will in due tme be fair- 
ly rolled away. 

The fact, that a crisis has come in the his- 
tory of the Reformed Church, mikes it the 
more important, that this subject siould not be 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



85 



suffered to rest in vague confusion. It is a 
Popisli maxim, by which ignorance is made the 



mothei 



of devotion. AYe say rather: '"Let 



there ty light" The cause of the Reformation 
is mori endangered by its own caricature, in 
the philosophical abstractions and vain show 
of An^lo-Romanisin, clothed in the Reformed 
Church with the high-sounding vanity of op- 
position to Puritanism, than by the supersti- 
tions of Rome. Luther knew no compromise 
with tlis New Altar system : he boldly faced 
and untiasked the false spirit, so that all the 
world bight see, that Lutheran Christianity 
was 01U thing, and Romanism, with its pre- 
tended (infallibility, quite another. So in the 
present crisis, the salvation of the Reformed 
Church is to be accomplished, not hy encour- 
aging the PEOPLE to "believe every spirit," 
but by engaging them, if possible, to "try 

THE SPIRITS, WHETHER THEY BE OF GrOD." Let 

things that are wrong be called by their proper 
names, and separated from things that are 
right. \ 

A heavy y*esponsibility, in this case, rests 
upon the advocates of High-Churchism. The 
circulation Of spurious coin in the name of 
monej^, brines the genuine currency into dis- 
credit. So aUo. the surest wav to create and 



86 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



cherish prejudice against true piety, is to iden- 
tity it with counterfeit pretences to its name. 
Popery, in Popish countries, is the fruitful 
source of infidelity. So in the case before us, 
it is sufficiently clear, that the zeal whicli the 
advocates of the New Altar, in pressing their 
irregularities on the Church, as a necessary 
part of the life and power of Christianity, is 
doing more at present than any other 3ause, 
to promote the unhappy disturbances found to 
prevail in congregations of the Reformed 
Church. At the same time, and by the same 
means, ministers are being drawn away from 
the Apostolic idea of earnest, persoml piety 
in all the duties and -engagements of life. — 
Whether consciously or not, it is plain that all 
such ministers do the cause of Christ great 
harm. Members of the Church, faithful and 
earnest in the discharge of Christiai duties, 
make up their minds to leave the denomina- 
tion ; others become careless and regardless 
of all religious duties, because of i want of 
confidence in the integrity of the ministry : 
others bear quietly and patiently, loping that 
the innovation will soon be removid. In any 
case, it is easy to see the terribly mischiev- 
ous force of the false issue, which the question 
of High-Churchism hns succeeded in raising 



1 



THE NEW ALT AH. 



SI 



for us, as a Protestant denomination. The 
New Altar with its kindred extravagances, 
may be held justly responsible for a vast 
amount of evil in this view. As a caricature 
always wrongs the original, it is made falsely 
to represent, so has this spurious system, offi- 
ciously usurping a place not its own, contrib- 
uted in no small degree to bring the Reform- 
ed Church itself into serious discredit, obscur- 
ing its true Reformation form, and inviting 
toward it prejudices that might otherwise 
have had no place. High-Churchism, whether 
in the Anglican Church of England, or in the 
Reformed Church in this country, has much 
to answer for, in the occasion it has given and 
is giving still, for the worship of God to be 
blasphemed, and the sacred cause of Protest- 
ant Christianity to be misrepresented, villified 
and opposed. 



88 



THE NEW ALTAR* 



CHAPTER II. 



THE MERITS OF THE NEW ALTAR NOT TO BE MEA- 
SURED BY ITS POPULARITY ; NOR BY ITS SEEM- 
ING SUCCESS.- — CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH IT IS 
FOUND TO PREVAIL. — NO SPIRITUAL FORCE RE- 
QUIRED TO GIVE IT EFFECT. 

The popularity of the New Altar, whether 
in England or this country, proves nothing in 
its favor.* In the Reformed Church, we find 
it, to be sure, in great favor with the Profes- 
sors and a considerable number of ministers. — 
There are ministers, that seem to have no con- 
ception of anything like a vigorous life in the 
Church, without its presence. Beyond these, 
a few are found, who glory in it as the very 
"gate of heaven," and consider the New Altar 
far more important than the Pulpit itself. Tiie 
living, speaking, working, calling Christ must 
be pushed into some obscure corner, while this 

The advocates of the New Altar, it is plain, try to 
make great account of its popularity. From remarks 
made in the "Messenger' by correspondents, one might 
be led to suppose that the whole Protestant world is like- 
ly to rally around this New Altar. It is the great pow- 
er of God, when used with effect. Not so : this is a 
self-constituted delusion. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



8H 



New Altar is placed prominently before the 
eyes of the people. The mediating priest 
himself presumes to take the place of Christ. 
During the last several years, there have been 
congregations in which the spirit of the New 
Altar might be said to carry all before it ; and 
the probability is, that if ministers can suc- 
ceed in keeping the people in a state of obedi- 
ence to priestly rule, the same thing will be 
tried in other congregations. 

But all who are at all acquainted with the 
world, know, that the worst things may thus 
run for a season and be glorified. And espe- 
cially is this the case, where they hold their ex- 
istence in the element of priestcraft, and con- 
nect themselves with religion, the deepest and 
most universal of all human interests. No 
weight of fashion enlisted in favor of the 
New Altar, can deserve to be much respected, 
in such a trial of its merits as we are here call- 
ed to make. 

It should be remembered, how r ever, that this 
popularity, such as it is, is in a certain sense, 
but the echo of a sound which has already 
ceased to be heard. Whatever may be the pre- 
tensions of the New Altar, on the field we are 
now contemplating, it is after all a stale inter- 
est, so far as the Church at large is concern- 



90 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



ed. For some years past, it has stood in very 
considerable credit among the Puseyites in 
England, and among the Romans it has al- 
ways been in high repute. In the Reformed 
Church, it is a bastard growth. It has had 
the influence of Professors for a decade 
of years, to give it some sort of foot-hold a- 
mong us, but all this only proves that the thing 
does not belong to us ; and for this reason 
must always be regarded as Aveighed in the 
Reformed balance of Apostolic Truth and 
found wanting. Here and there, it may still 
be held in honor. But in a general view, even 
some of those, who were formerly its friends, 
have come to look upon it with distrust, and 
are no longer willing to give it their coun- 
tenance. As with general consent, throughout 
Europe and America, it is admitted, that the 
s}' stem is in full sympathy with Rome ; many 
of its most ardent admirers have gone to Rome, 
where in the Mother Church of the New Altar, 
these admirers are enjoying their devotion to 
the Pope.* With all its popularity, then. 

$ 

This lias been contradicted : with more vanity how- 
ever, tban wisdom. Even in our Reformed Church all 
know that this New Altar system has led a number of 
ministers into the Romish Church ; others at the present 
time are unsettled. Even the Vindicator of the sys- 
tem says, that his theology is more Anglican than (ler- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



91 



where it prevails, it is after all a stale interest 
for the Protestant Church, worn thread-bare as 
early as the Reformation period, and thrown 
aside by the evangelical Protestant world. In 
these circumstances, no great account is to be 
made of its present credit, in any view. 

Nothing can be argued again in favor of the 
New Altar, from the success, with which it may 
seem to be employed in the service of religion. 
This is often appealed to for this purpose. — 
We are referred triumphantly to the actual re- 
sults of the system, as tried in a few congre- 
gations. We are told of many brought into 
the Church by its use. God, it is said, has 
owned it, and impressed his seal upon it, by 
working through it mightily, as a means for 
building up the Church ; and if he choose to 
honor it in this way, who are we that we should 
find fault or condemn ? We should rejoice to 
see souls brought into the Church. We should 
be willing to make room for the manifest grace 
of God, allowing it to have free course through 

man, and this for the reason that Puseyisui is nearer 
Rome. 

In England one hundred and sixty ministers have left 
the Anglican Church, and gone to Rome. Many hun- 
dreds of laymen have done the same. In principle, 
High-Churchism is Romanism : consistency would re- 
quire that a good High-Churchist should go to Rome 



92 



THE NEAV ALTAR. 



any medium ordained for such purpose, and 
not seeking to force it in conformrty with our 
narrow views. All this carries with it a plau- 
sible sound. But after all, the representation 
is entitled to no respect. 

In the first place, to draw an argument in 
favor of the use of the New Altar from its 
immediate, visible effects, is to take for grant- 
ed that these are really worth all they claim to 
be worth. Reference is made to i4 congregation- 
al growth,'' of which it is considered to be the 
very soul. True, instances of the very re- 
markable character of this kind of growth are 
not wanting. But who shall assure us that all 
this deserves to be regarded with confidence, 
as the genuine fruit of piety ? Congregations 
may have increased in number : there may be a 
growing admiration for the New Altar, and 
yet there ma}^ be an actual decline in true 
godliness. When ministers even, formerly re- 
garded as prudent men, will allow themselves 
to use language in the interest of this system 
wholly unbecoming a servant of Christ, is that 
to be regarded as an evidence of an increase 
of piety?* It is certainly marvellous credul- 
* 

In the interest of High-Churchism, a minister declared 
publicly tnat certain statements made by a member of 
bis congregation were "an infamous lie /" If so why 



THE NEW ALT Aft. 



93 



ity. to take ever}' so-called development in the 
way of religious worship for the work of God's 
Spirit. It is an enormous demand on our 
charity, when we are asked to accept, as true 
and solid, the wholesale statements of those 
who can so easily betray a want of Christian 
prudence. Mdre is needed than mere figures, 
glowing statements, and individual represent- 
ations, to prove the vitality of the system. It 
will be made to appear, that there is the great- 
est reason for caution and distrust, with re- 
gard to this point. Xo doubt the introduction 
of the Xew Altar may be found associated, in 
certain cases, with "growth," the fruits of 
which may be worthy of some confidence. — 
But this character these fruits would have, and 
perhaps more truly, through the force of what 
is Reformed without any such accompani- 
ment. In such cases, the growth, if worth the 
name, may be said to prevail, in spite of the 
High-Churchism with which it is encumbered. 
On the other hand, in proportion as the spirit 



did he not discharge a christian duty by bringing that 
member to discipline? This, it seems, he had not done. 

Another High-Cimrchist is known to have used lan- 
guage inappropriate to be piaced on record. Other in- 
stances are not wanting, to show that the influence of 
the system in respect to the piety of the ministry, is 
anything but good. 



94 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



of High-Ch nrehism is found to animate and 
rule the mind, there will be reason to regard 
the whole course of things with doubt. One 
thing is most certain. Spurious growth, or 
development, is common and as the fruit of it. 
conversions to Rome are becoming common. — 
The New Altar may be admired, where no di- 
vine influence whatever is felt. A whole con- 
gregation may love the novelty, and at the 
same time be losing far more than is gained in 
a religious point of view. Hundreds may be 
found in the company already adhering to the 
Xew Altar system, and yet their last state 
spiritually may be worse than the first. If it 
has the effect of making ministers speak light- 
ly of the solemn interests of the souls of their 
people, surely we cannot hope to see better 
fruits among others who breathe its spirit. It 
will not do. however, to point us to immediate, 
visible effects, to appearances at once, or to 
glowing reports struck oil* from the heated 
imagination of some advocate. Piles of cop- 
per, fresh from the mint, are after all something 
very different from piles of gold. 

Again, it does not follow by any means that 
a thing is right and good, because it may be 
made subservient occasionally, in the hand of 
God. to a good end. On the same principle we 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



might have a Pope — for even Popes in the hand 
of God, can be used to promote the true inter- 
ests of Christ's kingdom. Even the heathen 
Cyrus obeyed the call of God in the leading of 
his hosts. Allow, that the New Altar system, as 
fully developed in Rome, has often had the ef- 
fect of bringing souls by a true and saving 
change to Christ, and still it may be opposed 
and banished from the Church. God can cm use 
the wrath and folly of man both to praise him, 
in such ways as to Himself may seem best. And 
so, under the influence of the Spirit, he can 
make almost any occasion subservient to the 
awakening and conversion of the soul. But it 
would be wretched logic, to infer from t,his the 
propriety of employing every such innovation 
as a part of the regular work of the Gospel. It 
is sometimes said indeed, that if only some souls 
can serve God more devotionally by the use of 
the New Altar, we ought thankfully to own the 
power, and give it our countenance ; since even 
one soul is worth more than a world. But it 
should be remembered that to please a few, may 
notwithstanding cost too much. If Protestant 
truth and righteousness are made to sutler for 
the purpose, more is lost than won by the result. 
We must not do wrong, even to gain a soul for 
heaven. And if for one thus gained, ten should 



96 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



be virtually deceived by the very process em- 
ployed to reach the point, who will say that 
such a method of promoting Christianity would 
deserve to be approved ? There may be move- 
ments in the name of religion, and under the 
form of religion, and yielding to some extent 
the fruits of religion, which after all come from 
beneath and not from above. The history of 
the Church is full of instances, illustrating the 
truth of this remark. 

Simeon, the Stylite, distinguished himself in 
the fifth century, by taking his station, on the 
top of a pillar, for the glory of God and the 
benefit of his own soul. His whimsical discip- 
line, he continued to observe for thiiiy-seven 
years. Meanwhile he became an object of wide- 
spread veneration. Vast crows came from a 
distance to gaze upon him, and hear him preach. 
The novelty took with the people wonderfully. 
Thousands of heathen were converted and bap- 
tized by his hand. Among these, it may be 
charitably trusted were some, whose conversion 
was inward and solid. God made use of Si- 
meon's Pillar to bring them to Himself. The 
seal of his approbation might seem to have rest- 
ed upon it, to an extraordinaiy extent. No 
wonder the device became popular. The quack- 
ery of the pillar took possession of the Eastern 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



97 



world, and stood for centuries a monument of 
the folly that gave it birth. We laugh at it 
now, and yet it seemed a good thing in its time, 
and carried with it a weight of popularity such 
.as no High-Churchism can boast of in the pres- 
ent day. 

But why speak of Stylitism in particular ? 
The whole system of monlce ry may be taken as 
an example, of the same force, on a large scale. 
What a world of abominations has it not been 
found to embrace ? And yet, under what plau- 
sible pretences, it sought the confidence of the 
Church, in the beginning ! There were not 
wanting powerful reasons, to give it recom- 
mendation. The whole Christian world in fact 
fell into the snare. The interest became a tor- 
rent, before which no man was able to stand- 
Most assuredly too, there was the life and power 
of religion, to some extent, at work in the move- 
ment. Monkery was to many in fact the means 
of conversion and salvation. And to this hour 
an argument might be framed in its favor, under 
this view, not less plausible, to say the least, 
than any that can be presented for the use of 
the New Altar. 

The Romish Church has always delighted in 
arrangements and services, animated with the 
same false spirit. In her penetential system. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



nil pains have been taken to produce effect by 
means of outward postures and dress, till in the 
end, amid the solemn mummery, no room has 
been left for genuine penitence at all. Yet not 
a ceremony was ever introduced into the system, 
that did not seem to be recommended by some 
sound religious reason at the time. The same 
thing may be said of the New Altar Services. 

In another sphere, look at Millerism. The 
error, as it was zealously preached, had no doubt 
an awakening effect on the minds of many; and 
some it ma} T be trusted, were actually conduct- 
ed by means of it into tile kingdom of God. But 
will any pretend to say that it deserved to be 
encouraged on that account ? It is said, indeed, 
that such an idea has been occasionally thrown 
out. Only however, where the judgment has 
been in some measure corrupted by the spirit of 
quackery previously at work. No morally sane 
mind could be willing for a moment, to patron- 
ize such a lie, on account of any apparently sal- 
utary effects it might be found to have in par- 
ticular cases. 

Let us not be told, then, that the New Altar is 
a godly interest, because some seem to be able 
to worship God more devoutly ; many Roman- 
ists and Millerites seem to be equally earnest 
and devout. All this may be ; and the general 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



99 



operation of the system remain notwithstand- 
ing intrinsically and permanently bad. 

As a general thing, the mere admiration of 
the New Altar may not be taken as any criterion 
by which to judge of the religious feeling actu- 
ally at w T ork in the heart. It is more or less a 
novelty, and in truth has no other character 
whatever. The priest officiating at this New 
Altar claims to come in between Christ and 
penitent souls. This fact once acknowledged, 
and there is no felt importance of subsequent 
individual efforts to live a godly life — a life of 
prayer and devotion to Christ. Occasionally, 
one of the ardent admirers of the New Altar, is 
brought into a congregation by the pastor, in 
order to give additional strength to the pastor's 
influence in favor of increasing the general in- 
terest in the adoption of this innovation : in- 
deed, judging from the reports occasbonally 
publishecl in the "Messenger," it would seem 
to give these advocates as great pleasure to hear 
of growing favor in this direction as to hear of 
souls being converted to Christ. In these cir- 
cumstances, the visiting "priest" must of course 
speak very solemnly on the importance of im- 
plicit obedience to authority, reverence for the 
priests, and incidentally a word in favor of 
soon adopting the New Altar svstem in the 
4 



100 



THE NEW ALTAR 



congregation. The truth is, that so far as a 
true interest in souls going to Christ is con- 
cerned, these visiting priests take good care to 
warn all of the great danger of Puritanic sub- 
jective efforts to lead a holy life. Sermons on 
High-Church authority, salvation in and through 
objective forms and ceremonies, in the estima- 
tion of such men as Paul, Luther, and all truly 
earnest souls, might well be regarded as dull, 
at the best. Spiritually such preachers are not 
well ; and altogether they fail to make any last- 
ing impression as to the necessity of going to 
Christ and relying wholly upon his grace for 
salvation. The fact is, judging from the re- 
marks of some — for instance, of those who prate 
very loudly about priestly authority, and speak 
of the importance of keeping the Bible from the 
people, the "ranting expectorations" and such 
other priestly conceits — judging from all this, 
one would suppose that a Saviour would hardly 
be needed at all — at least, the people do not 
need the blessed Gospel of the Saviour ! It 
were no wonder if such ministers preach ser- 
mons without any effect ; indeed, the time may 
be looked for, if these priests have their way on 
to the end of the tendency, when it will be pub- 
licly declared, as in the Roman Church, that 
preaching is not so important after all, m such 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



101 



men as Paul and after him, Luther, Calvin, 
Ursinus and others, really think. "Growth" is 
all one way, and that way being the way to- 
ward Rome, therefore, it will be the right way. 

Commonly indeed, those who advocate the 
use of the INTew Altar, rely far less upon the 
presentation of truth in the way of preaching, 
in order to have the people understand the doc- 
trines of the Gospel, than they do upon other 
means in order to devotion. Pains are taken 
to speak of the "objective," as if to con- 
found the judgment, or bewilder the mind in 
the maze of philosophical abstractions. Ad- 
vantage is taken of the senses. Especially, the 
mysterious force of sympathy for the ancient 
forms is enlisted in support of the innovation, 
and in this way immense account is made of 
Hi gh-C hur chi sm . 

As might be expected accordingly, the most 
favorable subjects for the operation of the sys- 
tem, are persons that want to fall in with the 
fashion of the times, as manifest in certain 
quarters — especially as found to prevail where 
Anglo-Romanism is the order of the day. Some 
are foolish enough to imagine that, because cer- 
tain congregations have tried to make it fash- 
ionable to burn candles, and have various genu- 
flections around the New Altar, therefore it 



102 



THE NEW ALTAR, 



will look aristocratic to have a little more 
pomp and show in our churches ; the simple 
Apostolic order of our Reformed worship is too 
Puritanic, too much on the subjective ; requires 
too careful a watch over the inner man — there- 
fore we must give up our old Reformed way of 
worshiping God, as did our fathers, and adopt 
the Puseyistic, semi-Roman, New Altar system. 

In an enlightened, well instructed, truly 
Protestant congregation, this Puseyistic, semi- 
Roman system can never be generally popular. 
Where it is in full favor, a large proportion of 
those who admire the show, are the worldly- 
minded, the would-be aristocratic, the fashion- 
able; in a word, those who care more about the 
"style" of things, as perfor med in the churches, 
than they do about a pious and truly godly life. 
On the other hand, among the illiterate, where 
ignorance of the Gospel is characteristic, as 
among the lower classes in the Roman Church, 
this High-Churchism may be taught with great 
effect ; and those precisely who are the most 
rude and uncultivated, bow the most reverently; 
indeed, not unfrequently the blasphemous drunk- 
ard may be seen on his knees trying to count 
his beads, or blundering his way among others 
bowed down at their devotions. 

It requires, then,jno spiritual power to use the 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



103 



New Altar with effect. To preach truth effectu- 
ally, a man must have a certain spiritual force 
in himself, which others are made to feel. 
Nothing of this sort is needed to secure success 
here. The object sought is a mere demonstra- 
tion on the subject of religion, which may be 
gained by other forms of influence, just as well. 
It shows no inward power whatever in the 
priest as he goes through his mummery, and 
many genuflections — all this he can do, even 
though his soul may be a total stranger to 
Christ.* It can be done without eloquence, 
and calls for no particular earnestness or depth 
of thought. It is truly wonderful indeed, with 
how little piety, how little qualification of in- 
tellect and soul, a man may be fitted to carry 
all before him at certain times, and to show 
himself off to the e}~es of the bewitched congre- 
gation as "the great power of God," by having 
recourse to some of the "style" of performan- 
ces peculiar to Puseyism and all forms of a 
semi-Romanistic character. He ma}^ be trifling 
in his daily life, fond of attending fashionable 



One of the High-Church priests remarked to a friend 
that he ought to use the New Altar — for, said he, it is 
easier ; one can go over the forms, and bethinking about 
something else ; it does not require such close applica- 
tion of the mind ! Alas ! and this is serving Christ ! 



104 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



balls and parties, where wine and dance lend 
spirit to the hour; he may be pointless and 
lifeless in his ordinary pulpit services, so that 
it will be a weariness to hear him—- and yet, 
just as long as such priests do not hurt the con- 
science of people by telling them of their sins, 
and calling all to a life of holiness — just as long 
as he will favor balls, parties, theatres, and 
various other kinds of "innocent" amusement — 
just as long as he can do all this, he may rest 
assured, if he render* the "Performances" well, 
he will be popular. Such cases are by no means 
uncommon. We know of instances in which 
ministers, ten or more j^ears ago, and before ad- 
vocating the New Altar system, reproved the 
young for attending balls and parties at which 
wine and dance, made gaj r the small hours of 
morning; latterly, and since advocating the 
New Altar System, these ministers are not only 
silent as to the propriety of the young going to 
such places, but actually go themselves, and 
pass the hour of midnight amid those who know 
where the wine room is, and what is going on in 
the miscellaneous dance. In such instances, it 
is only just to say, that there is a lamentable 
falling away in the power of a godly life, as well 
as in mental cultivation. The general habit of 
the life of such a minister must be worldly and 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



105 



vain ; a sad commentary on the evil tendency 
of the system. Xay, any serious mind must 
see that where such is the tendency, true piety 
which is acceptable to God for Christ's sake, 
has very little, if anything, to do with the sys- 
tem. Nothing is becoming more common, than 
to find among these extreme advocates of the 
New Altar, the growing impression, that the 
hope of Protestantism does not depend upon 
the earnest and prayerful preaching of the 
glorious Gospel of Christ, but upon proper 
obedience to all that is involved in this High- 
Churchism. In this way, it is proclaimed that 
the system itself does necessarily involve a 
spiritual power, that must finally be acknowl- 
edged by the Protestant world, or Protestant- 
ism must give way to Romanism ! It is clearly 
seen in the Romish Church, that the system can 
be made to work as well, if not better, in con- 
nection with ignorance, rather than in connec- 
tion with the glorious light of the blessed Gos- 
pel. Painful enough it may be, to know that 
this same spirit is found working in the minds 
of some who favor the system in the Reformed 
Church. Because the people are not able to 
understand the truths contained in the Bible, 
therefore it were better for their own good, 
that it should not be given to all. This is cer- 



106 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



tainly logic from beneath and not from above. 
If already in the Reformed Church, ministers 
are not wanting who entertain such views, what 
may we expect in a few years more ? Instead 
of teaching the great importance of circulating 
the Bible ; the necessity of greater diligence 
and prayer in reading the Word of God ; the 
duty of parents to teach their children to love 
the sacred Scriptures — instead of this, thedevel* 
opment may have gone so far as to regard it a 
matter of necessity to take the Word of God 
from the people, lest by perverting divine 
Truth, many souls should fail to believe in the 
dictum of the priests, and thereby endanger 
salvation. In these circuir stances, the Romish 
saving will be true. 

"Where ignorance is bliss, 
'Tis folly to be wise." 

Mormonism, it may be added, is just as capable 
of doing wonders in the same way; indeed, it 
is questionable whether Young himself ever 
taught a more iniquitous doctrine. Nothing, 
then, can be more positive than the argument 
against this system, as drawn from its apparent 
effects and results. In the sphere of religion, 
as indeed in the world of life generally, the out- 
ward can have no value, except as it stands con- 
tinually in the power of the inward. To esti- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



101 



mate the force of outward appearances, we 
must try their moral constitution ; and this 
always involves a reference to the source, from 
which they spring. A miracle, in the true sense, 
is not simply a prodigy, nakedly and separately 
considered. It must include a certain moral 
character. Especially, there must be inward 
freedom and divine strength in the person from 
whom it proceeds. Xo wonder-works could 
authenticate the mission of a man pretending to 
come from God, who should display in all his 
movements an inward habit at war with the idea 
of religion. And just as little are we bound to 
respect, in the present case, the mere show of 
force, without regard to the agency by which it 
is exhibited. Those who admire the Xew Altai- 
system are accustomed to please themselves 
with the idea, that it is an argument of power 
on the part of their ministry, to be able in this 
wa} T to expose the ignorance of the people. 
This is considered sufficient, it might seem, 
apart from the personality of the preacher alto- 
gether, to authenticate his intelligence and 
strength. But no judgment can be more super- 
ficial. The personality of the preacher must 
ever condition and determine the character of 
his work. It were easy to give living examples, 
in the use of this system of thinking, to prove 



108 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



that actual life belies a palpable defect here. 
Any minister of the Protestant Church who will 
presume to declare that the people ought not 
have the Bible, belies his very office, and does 
not deserve the confidence of the ministry of 
the Protestant faith. Such a minister, influen- 
ced by the wicked tendency of this High- 
Church spirit, may not be trusted as to any 
results that may seem to flow^ from his ministry. 
We are authorized to pronounce the efforts of 
such men in behalf of the true Protestant faith 
as valueless and vain. So utterly weak, there- 
fore, is the appeal to actual facts as developed 
in the interest of this New Altar system. In 
every view of the case, when such bad results 
How from the advocacy of this New Altar, 
Anglo-Roman theory, it must be admitted that 
even the best things must be received with great 
caution, while to a great extent, they are enti- 
tled to no confidence at all. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



109 



CHAPTER III. 



NATURE OF QUACKERY. — TO RELY ON FORMS 
SHOWS INWARD WEAKNESS. — HIGH-CHURCHISM 
A SUBSTITUTE FOR TRUE STRENGTH. — WHERE 
IT IS IN HONOR, AMPLE SPACE IS FOUND FOR 
NOVICES AND QUACKS. 

It has been shown that the successful use of 
the ISTew Altar calls for no spiritual power. — 
As a system, it belongs essentially to Roman- 
ism and error, and is emplo} 7 ed with effect in 
their service. It is no argument of strength, 
as is often imagined, that a priest is able to go 
through the performances with effect. I now 
go a step farther and pronounce it an argu- 
ment of spiritual iveakness, that he should find 
it either necessary or desirable to call in such 
a help. There is a measure of quackery in 
the expedient, which always implies the want 
of strength, so far as it may be relied on at all, 
as being of material account, in carrying on 
the work of God.* 



It may be found convenient with some to misunder- 
stand what is said of spiritual weakness and spiritual 
strength, in this tract. Spiritual strength consists in 
cjnscious weakness without Christ : Spiritual weakness 



110 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



Quackery consists in pretension to an in- 
ward virtue or power, which is not possessed 
in fact, on the ground of a mere show of 
strength which such power or virtue is sup- 
posed to include. The self-styled physician, 
who without any knowledge of the human 
frame, undertakes to cure disease by a sover- 
eign panacea, in the shape of fluid, powder, 
pill, is a quack: and there is no doubt abun- 
dance of quackery in the medical profession, 
under more professional forms, where practice 
is conducted without any true professional 
insight and power. Such practices ma} r at 
times seem eminently successful, and yet it is 
quackery notwithstanding. The same false 
show of power may, of course, come into view 
in every department of life. It makes up in 
fact a large part of the action and business of 
the world. Quack lawyers, quack statesmen, 
quack scholars, quack teachers, quack gentle- 
men, quacks in a word of every name and 
shape, meet us plentifully in every direction. — 



in claiming that all others are weak. These High- 
Churchists seem to glory in their strength. Large Pro- 
testant denominations, whose piety and intelligence the 
world must respect, are regarded as miserable Puri- 
tan bodies, without churchly jeeling, and in no sense 
so orthodox as these Anglo -Mercersburg Theologians. — 
Quackery affects to be strong. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



Ill 



We need not be surprised then to find the evil 
fully at home also in the sphere of religion. — - 
Indeed it might seem to be more at home here, 
than anywhere else. Here especially the heart 
of man, "deceitful above all things and desper- 
ately wicked," has shown itself most ingenious 
in all ages, in substituting the shadow for the 
reality, the form for the substance, the outward 
for the inward. The religion of the world has 
always been, for the most part, arrant quack- 
ery. Paganism can exist under no other form. 
The mummery of Rome, as aping powers of 
a higher order, is the most stupendous sys- 
tem of quackery the world has ever witnessed. 
But quackery in the Church, is not confined, of 
course, to Rome. Christianity in its very na- 
ture, must ever act on the corrupt nature of 
man as a powerful stimulus to evil. Hso sys- 
tem embraces such powers, inward, deep and 
everlasting. These, man would fain appro- 
priate and make his own, in an external way, 
without relinquishing himself, and entering 
soul and body that sphere of the Spirit, in 
which alone they can be understood and felt.— 
So Simon Magus dreamed of purchasing the 
gift of God, and clothing himself with it in 
the way of outward possession. He was a 
quack ; the prototype of Anglo-Roman quacks. 



112 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



The second century shows us the whole 
Christian world brilliantly illuminated with 
rival systems of quackery, under the name of 
Gnosticism* which for a time seemed to dark- 
en the sun of truth itself by their false, but 
powerful glare. Afterwards, under a less ideal- 
istic garb in Romanism, the evil fairly en- 
throned itself in the Church. THE RE- 
FORMATION WAS THE RESURREC- 
TION OF THE TRUTH ONCE MORE, IN 
ITS GENUINE AND ORIGINAL LIFE. 
Luther was no quack. But Protestantism it- 
self soon had its quacks in plentiful pro- 
fusion, and has them all the world over at the 
present da}'. Christianity, as of old, serves 
to call the false spirit continually into action. 
Some whole sects stand only in the element 
of quackery. And among all sects, it is easy 
to find the same element, to some extent, ac- 
tively at work ; sometimes under one form, 
and sometimes under another ; but always ex- 
alting the outward at the cost of the inward, 
and promising in the power of the flesh what 
can never be accomplished except in the pow- 
er of the spirit. 

Wherever forms in religion are taken to be 
— we will not sa}^ the spiritual realities 
themselves with which the soul is concerned, 



THE NEW ALTAR, 



113 



for the error in that shape would be too gross 
— but the power and force at least by which 
these realities are to be apprehended, without 
regard to their own invisible virtue, there we 
have quackery in the full sense of the term. 
Religion must have forms, as well as an in- 
ward living force. But these can have no 
value, no proper reality, except as they spring 
perpetually from the presence of that living 
force itself. The inward must be the. bearer of 
the outward. Quackery, however, reverses the 
case. The outward is made to bear the in- 
ward. The shrine, consecrated with the pro- 
per ceremonies, must become a Shechinah. 
Such forms may be exhibited in a ritual, or in 
a creed, or in a scheme of religious experi- 
ence mechanically apprehended ; but in the 
end, the case is substantially the same. It is 
quackery in the garb o f religion, without its in- 
ward life and power. 

That old forms are liable to be thus abused, 
and have been extensively thus abused in fact, 
is easily admitted. But it is not always recol- 
lected, that new forms furnish precisely the 
same opportunity for the same error. It is 
marvellous, indeed, how far this seems to be 
overlooked by the zealous advocates of High- 
Churchism, in our day. They propose to a- 



114 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



rouse the Church from the dangers of Puri- 
tanism. And to do this, they strike off from 
the old ways of Reformed worship, and try to 
bring in new and strange practices, that are 
said to be more in "style"* and at the same time 
more akin to Anglo-Roman notions. This 
"style" naturally produces more or less of a 
theatrical effect, and this is taken at once for 
an evidence of waking life in the congrega- 
tion. One innovation losing its power in pro- 
portion as it becomes familiar, leads to the in- 
troduction of another. The philosophy, this 
precisely, by which the Roman Church, from 
the earliest times, was actuated in all her inno- 
vations. Her worship was designed to make up 
through the flesh, what was wanting in the spirit. 
It required hundreds of years for the present 
gigantic system of Romanism fully to reach 
the zenith of its glory. The advocates of the 
New Altar are vain enough to imagine that 
they, having greater strength, can start from 
the same general principle, and not run in- 
to the same fearful extravagances. 'Some have 
been able, however, to "develop" with light- 

* 



An elder remarked in view of the adoption of the 
New Altar system, that the congregation intended to 
have the services conducted in "style." This sounds well. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



115 



ning rapidity in comparison with Rome ; so 
that what it took Rome hundreds of years to 
mature, they are able at once to grasp. Devel- 
opments^ of this mushroom character are to be 
regarded with suspicion. These converts to 
Romanistic innovations have great faith in 
the New Altar with its accompaniments. — 
What is of the Reformed type, they regard as 
being too tame ; there is a Want of aesthetic 
taste. But High-Churchism, it is said, gives 
vitality to our denominational existence. It is 
only by losing sight of the inward power of 
Gospel Truth, that any can be led to attach to 
this system such importance. 

To rel}' upon the New Altar, to be under 
the necessity of having recourse to any such 
innovation in order to be found in company 
with Anglo-Romanists, thereb} 7 to promote the 
interests of the Gospel, shows a want of in- 
ward spiritual force. If it be true, that the 
Reformation forms are behind the times, and 
therefore are powerless in the hands of the 
minister, the fault is not in the forms, but in 
the minister himself ; and it is the very impo- 
tence of quackery, to think of mending the 
case essentially by the introduction of new 
forms. The man who has no power to present 
the glorious Gospel of Christ in the eatechet- 



116 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



ical class in a way that must be felt, is deceiv- 
ed most assuredly with regard to the true 
state of his own spirit, when he is heard prat- 
ing loudly about the importance of having the 
New Altar. Nay, he not only deceives him- 
self, but also deceives others : lie is a blind 
leader of the blind. Let the power of true 
piety be present in the soul of him who min- 
isters, and no New Altar will be needed on 
which to place the sacrifice. He will have no 
need of High-Churchism under any form. — 
His strength will appear rather in resuscitat- 
ing, and clothing with their true Reformed 
force, the services already established. The 
freshness of a divine life, always young and 
always new, will stand forth to view in forms 
that before seemed sapless and dead. Atten- 
tion will be engaged; interest excited; souls 
drawn to the Sanctuary. Sinners will be awa- 
kened, and born in the family' of God. Christ- 
ians will be buildcd up in faith, and made 
meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. 
Religion will grow and prosper. This is the 
true idea of churchly power. But let a minis- 
ter be inwardly weak, though ambitious at the 
same time of making a show in the name of 
High-Churchism, and he will find it necessary 
to go to work in a way different from the good 



THE NEW ALT Alt. 



117 



old Reformation way. Reformation forms 
must needs be dull and spiritless, in his hands. 
His sermons have neither edge nor point. The 
services of the Sanctuary are lean and bar- 
ren. He can throw no interest into the cate- 
chism. He has no heart for earnest, spirit- 
ual interest in family visitation, and no skill 
to make it of any account. He neglects the 
poor, passes by the cottage of the humble : he 
aims to be aristocratic, and seeks to please the 
rich. Still he desires to be doing something 
in his spiritual vocation, to convince others, 
and to satisfy himself, that he is not without 
strength. What then is to be done ? He 
must resort to quackery ; not with conscious- 
ness, of course ; but instinctively, as it 
were, by the , pressure of inward want. He 
will seek to do by the flesh, what he finds 
himself too weak to effect by the spirit. — 
Thus it becomes possible for him to make 
himself felt. High-Churchism falls in exact- 
ly with his taste, and is turned to fruitful ac- 
count by his zeal. He becomes very earnest ; 
has recourse to solemn airs ; denounces Puri- 
tanism and the sect-system ; takes strange 
attitudes ; speaks of the importance of priests 
wearing the gown ; calls loudly for an increase 
of the High-Church spirit — by which of course 



118 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



is meant, as soon as the "development" shall 
have become able to bear such additions, to 
have the burning candles on the New Altar : 
then the solemn mummery' of priests waving 
the smoking pot of incense, and so on, from 
time to time, as the circumstances may re- 
quire, in the way of improvement. In this 
way, as the ardent advocate of innovations, 
he becomes known as a High-Churchist ; and 
is counted among the orthodox ministers. — 
And yet, when all is done, he remains as before 
without true spiritual strength. High-Church- 
ism is the refuge of weakness, 

There may be cases indeed, in which genu- 
ine power will be associated with the love of 
the New Altar system. But when this occurs, 
it will always be without boasting that all oth- 
er Protestant denominations, that do not agree 
in this particular, are Puritanic and therefore 
wholly in the interest of infidelity and the 
miserable sect-system. Miracles are ever na- 
tural, as distinguished from mere wonder- 
works and feats of legerdemain. The form is 
the simple product of the power it represents, 
growing forth from it, and filled with it at ev- 
ery point, Where this is the case, what is 
new, is at the same time free, and entitled to 
our respect. But such instances can never 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



119 



authorize imitation, where the same inward 
power is not present. Such imitations are 
quackery and an argument of weakness. Paul 
had power to wield the name of Jesus 
with effect for the expulsion of demons ; but 
when the sons of Sceva, the Jew, undertook 
to exercise, the demoniac fell upon them, and 
drove them naked and wounded from the 
house. They were quacks. Ezekiei prophesied 
in the valley of dry bones, and there was a 
noise and great shaking ; but when a preacher 
with nothing of Ezekiel's strength, lays him- 
self out to arouse the people to an appreciation 
of High-Churchism, as though this must in- 
clude the breath of life, the whole business 
sinks into a solemn farce. The Spirit of God, 
on the day of Pentecost, came like a mighty 
rushing wind on the disciples in Jerusalem, 
causing them to speak with tongues ; but when 
the effort is made to turn a Christian denomin- 
ation into the babel of High-Churchism, to 
make it pentecostal, it deserves to be repro- 
bated as savoring more of hell than heaven. — 
Life is always beautiful in its place ; but 
hideous and ghastly are the muscular actings 
of a galvanized corpse. An apostrophe from 
the lips of Whitfield might thrill, like an elec- 
tric shock, through a whole congregation, and 



120 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



yet be no better than a vulgar mountebank 
trick, as imitated by a priest in the solemn 
mummery, smoking incense and other accom- 
paniments, of the New Aliar. An Edwards 
might so preach the truth as to force his hear- 
ers from their seats, and yet be no pattern 
whatever for those, who with design and cal- 
culation call in the device of the New Altar to 
create a similar show of power. Whitfield and 
Edwards needed no High-Churchism, to make 
themselves felt.* The}' were genuine men of 
God, who had strength from heaven in them- 
selves. They were no quacks. 

The system of High-Churchism. then, is to be 
deprecated, as furnishing a refuge for weak- 
ness and sloth in the work of the ministry, 
and in this way holding out a temptation, 
which, so far as it prevails, leads ministers to 
undervalue and neglect the cultivation of that 
true inward strength, without which High- 
Churchism can be of little or no account. This 
is a great evil. 

It is a vastly more easy thing to carry for- 
ward the work of the ministry in this way, 



Whitfield anl Edwards! exclaim the advocates of 
High-Uhurchism ! Why they were Puritans to be sure: 
and yet they were genuine men of God, having strength 
in themselves from Heaven. They were no quacks. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



121 



than it is to be steadily and diligently true to 
the details of ministerial duty, as prescribed 
by the Apostle Paul. To be 44 vigilant, sober 
and of good behavior" — "not self-willed, nor 
soon angry" — "just, holy, temperate" — "one 
that ruleth well his own house, having his child- 
ren in subjection with all gravity" — holding 
fast the faithful word, in such way "that he 
may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort 
and convince the gainsayers ;" to "follow after 
righteousness, faith, love, meekness," so as to 
be "an example of the believers in word, in 
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in 
purity ;" to be "gentle unto all men, apt to 
teach, patient, in meekness instructing those 
that oppose themselves;" to meditate on divine 
things, and to be given wholly to them, so as 
to be continually profiting in the view of all ; 
to "endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus 
Christ ;" to be a scribe well instructed in the 
law, a workman that need not be ashamed, able 
to bring forth from the treasury of God's 
Word, things new and old, as they may be 
wanted ; to preach week after w r eek, so as to 
instruct and edify the souls of men ; to be 
earnest, faithful, pungent, in the lecture room 
and catechetical class ; to be known as an ear- 
nest and spiritually-minded minister of Christ 



122 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



in the family visitation, in the sick chamber, 
in the dwelling places of poverty and sorrow ; 
as the faithful pastor, "watching for souls," 
whose very presence serves to remind men of 
holiness and heaven — not at certain seasons on- 
ly, but from month to month, from one year 
always to another ; — all this is something great 
and difficult, and not to be compassed without 
a large amount of inward spiritual strength. — 
But it calls for comparatively little power, for 
a man to distinguish himself as a leader of 
High-Churchism, where zeal has room for out- 
ward display, solemn performances and vari- 
ous genuflections. It is not asserted that a 
minister must be destitute of the qualifications 
that are required to make a regularly faithful 
pastor, in order that he may be fitted to make 
himself conspicuous in this way ; but most as- 
suredly such may be the case. A man may be 
mighty in the defence of High-Churchism, 
preaching and having all the performances for 
whole weeks ; he may have many admirers of 
the New Altar and its various accompaniments, 
such as burning candles, smoking pots of in- 
cense, and the various genuflections ; he may 
enjoy popular favor, because "his" services 
are fashionably rendered ; and as the result of 
all, he may be able to report a large and fash- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 123 

ionable audience in constant attendance at 
^his" church : hundreds, by this process, ac- 
cording to his own account, may have been 
translated from darkness into this aristo- 
cratic and "Stylish" church. He may be able 
to "act" the same part in other congregations 
at different places ; and, for the time being, his 
name be familiar in fashionable families, as a 
great High-Churchist, whose citizenship might 
be supposed to hold in the third heavens. — 
All this may be, where to an attentive observ- 
er, it shall soon be painfully evident, at the 
same time, that the true and proper strength of 
a man of God is wholly wanting. A man may 
so distinguish himself, and yet have no power 
to study, think or teach. He may be crude, 
chaotic, without true Christian cultivation or 
discipline. He may be too lazy to read or 
study. There may be no power whatever in 
his ordinary walk or conversation, to enforce 
the claims of religion. Meet him in common 
secular connections, and you find him in great 
measure unfelt, in the stream of worldliness 
with which he is surrounded. Often he is cov- 
etous ; often vain ; often without a particle of 
humility or meekness. His zeal seems to ex- 
haust itself in exposing the dreadful ills of 
Puritanism, and the sect-system. The man 



124 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



who appears all on lire in defence of High- 
Churchism, and ready to storm all the irregular- 
ities of Protestantism, shows himself now 
marvellously in apologies for Romish absurdi- 
ties. He has no heart to lay violent hands on 
any Romish superstition in order to show the 
contrast in the spirit of true piet} r . It were 
well, indeed, if such men are not found giving 
up the idea of active individual efforts, as 
ministers, to save souls ; and instead, give more 
time to fashionable parties, theatres, and vari- 
ous kinds of innocent amusement in order to 
social improvement. Much is required to be a 
faithful minister of the New Testament ; whilst 
small resources in comparison are needed for 
that semblance of power, to which many attain 
by the successful use of this High-Church 
system. 

Here then is a strong temptation presented 
to ministers. They are in danger of being se- 
duced, by the appeals this system makes to 
their selfishness and sloth. It offers to their 
view, a "short method of doing God's great 
work," and a sort of "royal road," at the same 
time, to ministerial reputation. How easy, in 
these circumstances, for even a good man, to 
have his judgment warped and his practice dis- 
turbed. And how natural, that weakness, uu- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



125 



der every form, should rejoice to take refuge 
in the shelter thus brought within its reach. 

It should be considered a calamity in any 
community, or in any religious denomination, to 
have this system in fashionable and popular use. 
Let the idea prevail, that those who defend the 
High-Church system in the interest of the 
Christian Church, are the friends pre-eminently 
of serious heart-felt piety, and of all churchly 
interests ; while such as frown upon the system 
are regarded with suspicion, as at best but half 
awake in the service of Christ. Let it be ac- 
counted as enough to authenticate the power of 
the ministrations of God's Sanctuary, that the 
minister is able to render the sendees in "style." 
Let some religious paper, known as a represen- 
tative of the Protestant faith, herald reports of 
the success of the system, proclaiming it worthy 
of all confidence and glorying both in the sys- 
tem and in the men concerned in defending it. 
Let those who are counted "pillars in the 
church," give their sanction to the same judg- 
ment, openly honoring the system, or quietly 
conniving at what they may not entirely ap- 
prove, so as by their very cautions and excep- 
tions to forward the whole interest in fact. Let 
the sentiment be industriously cherished, that 
with this interest is identified the hope of Prot- 



126 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



estantism itself, and that all unchurchliness, and 
sectarianism, and Puritanism, and indifference 
to sound piety, characterize as a matter of 
course all who refuse to do it homage. Let this 
state of things be brought about in the Reform- 
ed Church, and it needs no great discernment 
to see that it will work disastrously upon the 
character and fortunes of the Church. The at- 
tention of ministers will be turned away from 
more important, but less ostentatious methods 
of promoting the interests of true piety. Preach- 
ing will become shallow. The catechism may 
possibly be still treated with professed respect, 
but practically it will be robbed of its true honor 
and force. Already it has been intimated that 
the New Altar system will be of immense serv- 
ice in influencing the minds of the young. 
Education will be considered necessary of course 
for the work of the ministry ; but no great care 
will be taken to see that earnest piety is also 
cultivated in the true spirit of prayerful de- 
pendance upon Christ. A sort of esoteric piety 
will be regarded as sufficient. One of the ad- 
vocates of this system has been known to say 
that the ministry is about as honorable as any 
profession; and this, it is to be feared, is too 
much the reigning spirit of the system. Spir- 
itual vanity and ignorance along with quackery. 



THE NEW ALTAR 



127 



will lift up the head on all sides and show them- 
selves off as the "great power of God." Novices 
in the way of personal piety and Apostolic 
earnestness to win souls for Christ, will abound 
"puffed up with pride" in their priestly attire, 
each wiser in his own conceit than seven men 
that can render a reason. Young men, candi- 
dates for the sacred office, will be encouraged 
to try their hand in defence of the sy stem, be- 
fore the}' have well commenced their studies, 
and finding that they have power to render the 
services in "style," they will yield their unfledg- 
ed judgment captive to its charms, so as to 
make no account afterwards of any higher form 
of strength. The cultivation of personal holi- 
ness, will seem to their zeal not only an irk- 
some restraint, but what to them is infinitely 
worse, will be too much of a Puritanic exercise: 
and making their lazy, heartless sermon as short 
as possible and full of the objective and abstract, 
they will be regarded as able men. Yery phil- 
osophical, but very little humble piety. Spirit- 
ually these men are blind leaders of the blind ; 
they bring the true idea of the ministry into 
contempt, and fall themselves into the condem- 
nation of the devil. Whatever, in the true 
Protestant idea of the Christian Church, may 
be done in favor of a sound and solid idea of 



128 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



personal piety in order to efficiency in the 
work of the Gospel ministry, will be frustrated 
and defeated, so far as it is possible for this in- 
fluence to prevail. 

Thus will the ministry be put. more or less, 
out of joint, by the force of the wrong judg- 
ment involved in the system of High-Church- 
ism, where it has come to be fashionable and 
popular. The Church of Christ must suffer 
corresponding harm, of course, in all her inter- 
ests. The old Reformed landmarks will not 
only grow dim, but finally will be totally re- 
moved. Anglo-Roman views will come to pre 
vail ; Anglo-Roman theology will be taught in 
our Institutions.* Anglo-Romanism is fast- 
working its way into our Institutions, and in 
many respects unconsciously to those who are 
favoring this New Altar system. Fanaticism 
in defence of the system is already in the ascen- 
dency ; hardly a word dare be said in opposi- 
tion to this priestly innovation without calling 
forth a tirade of excitement in the way of de- 
fence. Unconsciously some of the advocates 
betray the most amazing sectarian bigotry in 
* 

Already one of the Professors boldly proclaims that 
his theology is more Anglican than German. A lew 
years ago he would not have ventured ?o hold an a- 
vowal of his views. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



129 



their loud denunciations of other branches 
of the Reformed Church, for their adherence 
to what is believed to be the truly Prot- 
estant view of the Christian Church. In 
the circumstances it is not surprising to find 
false views of the religion of Christ. The 
objective is everything, conversion, nothing. — 
Conversion is not regarded as the work of 
Christ b}' his Spirit and Word ; the idea 
that the New Life is the work of Christ 
Himself in the soul, and is to be strengthen- 
ed in the use of the sacraments and all the 
other means of grace at hand in the Church 
of Christ — this idea is discarded. Life is 
mediated to penitent souls in and through ex- 
ternal forms by the laying on of the hands of 
the priest. Naturally enough, this system 
leads to a desire for " style" in the order of the 
New Altar ; a longing for solid spiritual know- 
ledge must, as in the Romish services, gradu- 
ally pass away. The susceptibiltiy of the 
people for religious instruction is lost on the 
one side, along with the capacity of the minis- 
try to impart solid spiritual instruction on the 
other. The details of Christian duty are but 
little understood or regarded. Apart from the 
fashion, and aristocratic "Style" of the per- 
formances, the particular congregation has lit- 



130 



THE NEW ALTAR 



tie claim upon the affections of the people.— 
Family piety and the careful religious instruc- 
tion of children around the family altar, are 
apt to be neglected.. Indeed, how could it be 
otherwise, when the advocates of the system 
are already saying the people ought not have 
the Bible ! 

It is a calamity then, in the general view of 
the case now taken, for a community or a denomi- 
nation, to be drawn into the vortex of this 
High-Church system, as a reigning fashion. — 
It will prove the refuge of weakness and the 
resort of quacks. It will be a "wide and effec- 
tual door" to let in Romanism and error. — 
It will be as a worm at the root of the minis- 
try, silently consuming its strength; and as a 
mildew on the face of congregations, beneath 
whose blight in the end no Protestant fruit can 
be brought to perfection. It will prove as al- 
ready it has in part proven, an instrument in 
the hand of the devil for deluding ministers 
from the faith of the Protestant Church to that 
of Pome. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



131 



CHAPTER IT. 

A€TI0N OF THE NEW ALTAR. — IT CREATES A 
FALSE ISSUE FOR THE CONSCIENCE. — UNSETTLES 
TRUE SERIOUSNESS. — USURPS THE PLACE OF THE 
CROSS. — RESULTS IN WIDE-SPREAD, LASTING, 
SPIRITUAL MISCHIEF. 

Let us now fix our attention on the action of 
the New Altar system, directly and immedi- 
ately considered. Without regard to its re- 
mote connections and consequences, let us in- 
quire what its merits may he in fact, as it re- 
spects the interest it proposes to promote. — 
Is it the wisdom of God and the power of 
God, as its friends would fain have us believe, 
for building up the people of God in their 
most holy faith, and bringing souls into the 
kingdom of heaven ? Let the New Altar, in 
this case, be taken as the representative of the 
entire High-Church system. No part of it 
carries a more plausible aspect. If it be found 
wanting, and unwortlry of confidence here, we 
ma} r safely pronounce it to be unworthy of 
confidence at every other point. 

As usually applied, in the interest of High- 

Churchism, I hold the svstem to be spiritual- 

5 



132 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



ly dangerous ; requiring great skill and much 
caution, to be used without harm in any case, 
and as managed by novices and quacks (who 
are very ready to be taken with it) more suited to 
ruin souls than to bring them to Heaven. This 
view is established hy the following position. 

1. The New Altar, in the case of an awaken- 
ed sinner creates a false issue for the con- 
science. 

God has a controversy with the impenitent. 
He calls upon them to acknowledge their guilt 
and misery, and fervently pray for the heaven- 
ly gift, true repentance and a living faith in 
Christ. It is their condemnation that they 
refuse to do this. When the mind and heart 
of any sinner are being moved by the Spirit so 
that he begins to be sensible in any measure 
of his actual state as a sinner, he is so far a- 
wakened and under conviction. Now in these 
circumstances, what does his case mainly re- 
quire ? Clearly, that he should be made to see 
more and more the true nature of the contro- 
versy in which he is involved, till he finds him- 
self inwardly engaged to lay down the wea- 
pons of his rebellion, and cast himself upon 
the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. He needs 
to have his eyes fastened and fixed on his re- 
lations, spiritually considered, to the High 



TH~E NEW ALTAR. 



133 



and Holy One, with whom he is called to make 
his peace. The question is, will he yield his 
heart to God, or not ? This is the true issue 
to be met and settled ; and it is all-important 
that he should be so shut up to this in his 
thoughts, that he may have no power to escape 
the force of the challenge which it involves. — 
That spiritual treatment must be considered 
best in his case, which serves most fully to 
bring this issue into view, and holds him most 
effectually confronted with it in his conscience, 
beneath the clear light of the Bible. But let 
the sinner in this state be told that he must go 
to Christ through the Priest, before he can find 
spiritual peace. He finds himself at once un- 
der the force of a different challenge. The 
question is not, will he pray earnestly for the 
gifts of repentance and a true faith in Christ, 
but will he go to the Priest ; which is some- 
thing different altogether. Thus a new issue 
is raised, by w^hich the other is obscured or 
thrust out of sight altogether. It is a false 
issue too ; because it seems to present the real 
point in controversy, when in fact it doss not 
do so at all, but only distracts and bewilders 
the judgment so far as this is concerned.* — 

With regard to this priestly intervention in the way 
of absolution, a minister of the Reformed Church, says ; 



134 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



While the awakened person is balancing the 
question of going to the Priest, his mind is 
turned away from the contemplation of the 
immediate matter of quarrel between himself 
and God. The higher question is merged, for 
the time in one that is lower. A new case is 
created for the conscience, of artificial, arbi- 
trary form, and ambiguous authority. Can it 
be wise thus to change the ground of debate, 
giving up a strong position with regard to the 
sinner for one that is weak ? Surety it were 
a matter of solemn import thus to deal with 
awakened persons ; interposing as a prelimi- 
nary a human invention in order to conversion. 
This invention can have no sanction for the 



Without such an act in which our pardon is crtified t> 
us, our hearts anno! possess a full and sa'isfactory sense 
of forgiveness. 

The sinner in such case, convicled of sin by the Holy 
Spirit, and longing fur deliverance from his guilt and 
misery, may not venture himself to go weeping to the 
Cross : no, he must go to the New Altar, where 'stands 
the human priest, who alone can mediate in his behalf, 
so that he may "possess a full and satisfactory sense of 
forgiveness." Even after having received this peace, 
there must be a sense of constant dependence upon the 
priest. Once admitted into the formal Church, there is 
no pardon except through the priest ! [f the church 
member sins — and who does net — he cannot he sure of 
pardon, till his absolution is spoken, signed and sealed. — 
The Reformed Church to be churchly, must have the 
confessional ! 



THE NEW ALTAR. 135 

conscience, and must serve only to turn away the 
attention of such awakened persons from the 
object with which it should be employed — 
thus defeating the very interest it aimed M 
promote. It is not a little strange that those 
who claim to be the most earnest and sincere 
Protestants, should be among the first to in- 
terpose the invention of going to the Priest, 
in order to reach the Cross ; as though by go- 
ing to the Priest the awakened sinner could 
possess, or be made to possess, that which is 
found only by going to Christ. A pilgrimage 
to the Priest, is in its own nature as much 
collateral to the duty of coming to Christ, as a 
pilgrimage to Mecca. In either case a false 
issue is presented to the anxious soul, b}^ which 
for the time a true sight of its circumstances 
is hindered rather than promoted. 

It may be thought that the going to the Priest 
is so easily performed, as not to be properly 
open to this exception. It raay be considered 
a mere circumstance, that can have no weight 
practically in the view now presented. But 
we shall see that this is not the case. How- 
ever small the point involved may seem, it is 
not only of account, as producing for the mo- 
ment a factitious case of conscience, open to 
"doubtful disputation," but it includes also ac- 



136 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



tual difficulty that cannot fail to be felt. — 
Whether the challenge be refused or accepted, 
it becomes in most cases more than a circum- 
stance, and is of no small force in fact in the 
way of embarrassing the proper exercises of 
an awakened soul. 

2. The New Altar, in the case of those ivho 
come to it, is adapted by its circumstances to 
disturb and distract the thoughts of the truly 
serious, a,nd thus to obstruct the action of truth 
in their minds. It is no doubt quite a com- 
mon thing for persons to become great ad- 
mirers of this New Altar system, who have 
little or no seriousness at the time, urged for- 
ward in many instances by sympatlry for 
what is apparently aristocratic and fashionable, 
or from the mere love of "style." There is 
much reason for the remark that going to 
church now-a-da} r s, is becoming a matter of 
"style ;" fashionable congregations, "stylish" 
performances, social influence and respect- 
able standing in society — all may be secured 
by falling in with the High-Church tendency. 
Even in our Reformed Church, the good old 
Reformed way of worshiping God is looked 
upon as too stale : Professors' children cannot 
worship God in the congregation of our fath- 
ers : they demand more style : a higher posi- 



THE NEW ALTAR, 



137 



tion in society ; and accordingly, influenced by 
the High-Church teaching of parents, they 
wander off to find a home where "style" is 
more truly appreciated ; and where there is not 
the same prejudice against Anglo-Romanism, 
that is found in our glorious Reformed Church. 
Plainly enough, it is not the love of Christ 
that influences these children of our Profes- 
sors to go to more fashionable and more "sty- 
lish" churches : plainly enough it is not true 
seriousness of heart and soul that leads child- 
ren thus away from their proper home. Plain- 
ly enough it is not the Christ-seeking, broken- 
hearted, truly contrite souls, that thus wander 
into strange churches, leaving aged, and even 
gray-haired parents to die and be buried in 
other lands— lands in which true High-Church- 
ists would not wish to be buried. It is not 
said of course that where this High-Church 
spirit does prevail, there can be none who are 
truly serious, truly under conviction — by no 
means, but it is affirmed that the "style" does 
create a most fearful issue for the soul. Genu- 
ine religious feeling may, and in many in- 
stances does, exist ; but the alarming feature 
of this High-Churchism centres in the terrible 
danger of allowing these outward motives to 
influence the heart ; and thus overlooking the 



138 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



absolute necessity of what is infinitely more 
important. The very question of the times, 
in this respect, is fearfully alarming. Go to 
the large, fashionable churches in which the 
New Altar nourishes — see the burning candles, 
behold the smoking pots of incense, listen to 
the peculiar exhortation of the Priest — what 
the impression made upon the mind ? Think 
of Paul, for instance, with his satin gown, his 
priestly paraphernalia, with his earnest soul 
preaching Christ in such a place ! Think of 
Paul, around him burning candles, and in his 
hand a smoking pot of incense ! Alas ! It 
never entered Paul's mind to think of leading 
sinners to Christ in this way. No ! Paul 
would cry out — u wretched man that I am, 
who shall deliver me from the body of this 
death ?" Himself a poor sinner, he shouts — 
Christ, Christ, is all and in all : Go to Christ, 
ye dying sinners, call to Him to awake you 
from your sleep of sin ; He alone can give you 
light. Yes, Paul was an earnest preacher: 
he could only say, I preach Christ, I can only 
tell you, go to Him : go to Him, or you must 
die in your sins : go to Him and God will have 
mercy upon you : but you must go as poor 
sinners : you dare not go trusting to your 
''style" — that will avail nothing with Christ : 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



139 



you must have a broken, and contrite spirit : 
you must fall down in the very dust of humil- 
ity at his feet : you must pray for mercy ; } r ou 
must earnest!}^ beg Him to give you the heaven- 
ly gifts of true repentance toward God and a 
living faith : yo u must do this, or for you 
there can be no hope. Ah ! Paul would say : 
your fine churches and your "stylish" per- 
formances will avail you nothing : you are no 
better than the poor beggar, by the wayside : 
even a Lazarus, lying at your church door, full 
of sores and so feeble that passers-by do not 
carry him into the fine church, so weak is he 
that he is unable to drive away the dogs that 
lick his sores — yea, some ma}^ even intimate 
that their "purple and fine linen" might be con- 
taminated in passing by him into the splendid 
church to attend the "st}dish" performances — 
and . that he had better be taken away ! — Ah ! 
Paul would say : That poor beggar is dear 
to Jesus : some day along the road'side this 
Lazarus will die, and angels will cany his 
soul to Abraham's bosom. With all his "style," 
and "purple and fine linen," the rich man 
went to hell ; Lazarus, the roadside beggar, 
went to heaven. Can a minister truly love 
to preach Christ, as Paul preached, who will 
venture to fall in with such a system ? Can 



140 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



an earnest man of God allow himself to fall 
in with any system thus worldly and ruinous 
in its tendency ? Any conscientious and in- 
telligent minister of Christ well knows how 
strong under all circumstances the inclination 
in the mind of the young to be influenced by 
this outward, worldly and fashionable kind of 
"style:' 7 every such minister well knows how 
exceedingly difficult to have the young give 
their hearts to Christ : on the other hand, how 
easy to fall in with this false influence, and go to 
the Priest ; be received into the society of the 
fashionable, and at the same time be a total 
stranger to true repentance toward God and 
a living faith in Christ. By their fruits, says 
Jesus, ye are to know the m. Yea ! Only too 
true, many vainly imagine that having gone 
to the priest, all is done. It matters little as to 
how they live. Fashionable parties, miscel- 
laneous dances, theatres — in a word, world- 
liness seems to be the order: and position in 
society the end sought. In other instances, 
going to the Priest, is regarded as securing a 
title to admission into Heaven, and it matters 
little as to prayer, reading of the Bible, or any 
other personal duty. As parents, there is no 
family altar : no earnest, prayerful training of 
the children : no deep anxiety as to the ne- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



141 



cessity of a holy life : — all this flows, in many 
instances, from the false issue made by this 
wicked High-Church system. What sincere 
minister of Christ does not see that this sys- 
tem is calculated to distract the thoughts of 
the truly serious ; obstruct the action of Gos- 
pel Truth in the mind : — in a word, who does 
not see that the tendency of the system is the 
eternal ruin of souls ? 

3. The Neiv Altar is adapted to create and 
foster the ruinous imagination, that there is in- 
volved in the act of coming to it a real decision 
in favor of religion. 

It is well known, how the Romish Church re- 
gards certain observances, as though these car- 
ried with them a sort of inward merit by them- 
selves to secure a spiritual blessing. There is 
a constant tendency with men indeed, to invest 
the outward under some form, with the virtue 
that belongs only to the inward, so as if possi- 
ble to "get religion" and hold it as propert}^ or 
means for some other end, instead of entering 
into it as the proper home of their own being. 
It is not strange then that the New Altar should 
be liable to be so abused. It is only strange 
that sensible persons should make so little ac- 
count of this danger, as is sometimes done. 
We are gravely told, it is true, that coming to 



142 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



the New Altar is not considered to be the same 
thing as coming to Christ.* The system is rep- 
resented to be important, on other grounds, and 
for other purposes. Certainly, it, is not im- 
agined for a moment, that any one in his senses 
will be found ready to say that coming to the 
K ew Altar is itself religion. But still that some 
such impression is liable to be created by the 
•system, and is extensively created by it in fact 
as it is commonly used, admits no dispute. It 
is uncommon indeed for those who make use of 
it, to throw in a word of caution with regard to 
this point ; in some few instances, possibly, 
such prudence may be observed, so as to guard 
against the danger. But this is not common. 
As a general thing, even the cautions that are 
interposed, are in such a form, as to be almost 
immediately neutralized and absorbed, hy rep- 
resentations of an opposite character. The 

* 

Who ever pretended, says one, that going to the New 
Altar is conversion ? And yet others say, doe - the sin- 
ner not. tell tne Priest, that he will no longer resist the 
influences of divine grace, nor wage war against. God, nor 
do irreverence toward the Vriest , ? Such submission is 
commonly taken to be conversion. In the same way, 
another regards this coming to the Priest a test. "If no 
test-questions are presented, how can men even act, or 
determine whether they will serve God or not?" Might 
bravely spoken again ; but I repeat it, the very dialect of 
QUACKPOM ! 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



143 



whole matter is so managed, * as practically to 
encourage the idea that a veritable step towards 
Christ at least, if not actually into his arms, is 
accomplished in the act of going to the Xew 
Altar. Having had an opportunity of witness- 
ing the use of the system in different hands 
and on different occasions, it has seemed 
to me that room was given for this cen- 
sure.* Indeed, I do not see well, how the 
system could be employed in any case with 
much effect, without the help of some such rep- 
resentation. We find accordingly that the 
whole process, as it were, in spite of itself, runs 
ordinarily into this form. Sinners are urged to 
come to the New Altar, as for their life, by the 
same considerations precisely that should have 
force to bring them to Christ, and that could 
have no force at all in this case, if it were not 
confounded more or less to their perception 
* 

The priest exhorted them to repent of their sins, and 
go to their forsaken God. To aid them in their return 
the New Altar is prepared. 

The New Altar was introduced through some opposi- 
tion, and around it the high and the low, the rich and the 
poor, the old and the young, the male and the female 
bowed. They were not ashamed of the despised New 
Altar, but presented themselves with as much avidity, as 
if they were certain of getting a fortune there. And so 
they did. There they received a title to mansions in tbe 
skies. 



144 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



with the other idea. The burden is presented 
in the blessed idea that all may come to Jesus ; 
and yet this system puts the notion forward 
that the all-important idea centres in coming to 
the New Altar. Every effort is made to shut 
up the conscience to this issue ; to make all feel 
that it is necessary first to come to this New 
Altar, or run the risk of the loss of the soul. 
Advantage is taken of the hopes and the fears 
of the sinner, in every form of awakening and 
stimulating appeal, to draw him to the New 
Altar. We knew an instance in which an ardent 
lover of this High-Church system went so far 
as to appeal to the lowest motives of our selfish 
nature — stating to a woman of wealth, that if 
she would come to "his" church she would im- 
mediately be introduced into good society! 
Alas ! is this the "royal road" to Heaven ? Of 
course those who come are welcomed ; they 
have decided to come out from the "World" in 
order to be on the side of "Fashion ;" all who 
do not come are treated as being unable to see 
the beauty of the "New Service." It often hap- 
pens too, that the Priest, in the warmth of his 
zeal, charges upon those refusing in this view 
the same guilt, and madness, and peril precisely, 
that lie upon the deliberate rejection of Christ 
Himself. Now it is an easy thing to say after 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



145 



all, in these circumstances, that the New Altar 
is not substituted for Christ. In the same way, 
and for the same reason, the Pope of Rome may 
disclaim the idea of exercising the prerogatives, 
which Christ alone exercises. But in both cases 
it is perfectly plain, that Christ is seriously 
wronged notwithstanding. In both cases the 
error is practically countenanced and encour- 
aged, that coming to Christ, and the use of an 
outward form, are in whole, or at least to some 
considerable extent, one and the same thing ; 
with the difference only, that the former de- 
ceives many souls, the latter deceives only the 
Pope. 

It is true indeed, in a few instances, that 
some are regarded after coming to the New 
Altar, as being yet unconverted. This should 
neutralize, it might seem, the idea of any such 
saving virtue in the system, as is here supposed 
to be encouraged, in the style of calling sinners 
to come to the New Altar. But this is not the 
case. The coming is not accepted as salvation, 
though exhibited apparently as the same thing ; 
but still it is taken practically for something 
bordering on salvation. Those who have come 
are nearer their final salvation than the}" were 
before. They are urged now to "go on," as 
having actually begun a divine life. The pro- 



146 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



cess of salvation is commenced. They have 
come to the birth, and. all that is wanted to 
bring them finally into Heaven, is the vigorous 
prosecution of the system of deliverance, to 
which they have now happily committed their 
souls. The New Altar is made to be the lover 
of regeneration, the gate of paradise, the womb 
of the New Jerusalem. Salvation is represent- 
ed far easier here, than elsewhere. We find ac- 
cordingly that this idea fairly carried out, leads 
certain semi-Romanists of the full High-Church 
stamp, to profess a peculiar tact and power in 
carrying the process of spiritual delivery regu- 
larly out at once to its proper issue. It is only 
for the want of all the proper accompaniments, 
thej say, that "there is not strength enough" 
in other Protestant denominations "to bring 
forth: 7 ' and for this reason souls are not fully 
born at once into the kingdom. The burning 
candles, brazen pots of smoking incense, oil, 
salt, and so on to the end of the chapter are im- 
portant. If oiity Protestantism could properly 
"bring forth," all would be well with the souls 
that go to the priests. The New Altar, as 
"brought forth" in perfection by Rome, is as 
yet only a sort of deformed, or imperfect "birth" 
in the hands of the High-Churchists. Once the 
full idea of the New Altar is properly appreci- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



147 



ated in the case of the Anglo-Romanists, and 
all High-Churchists, then as in Rome itself, the 
soul will be quickly set free by the Priest. — 
Only a few minutes will be needed ; and often 
the Priest will be willing to grant peace on the 
very instant. The priests know how to get 
souls "through." All this is sufficiently extrav- 
agant ; but still it is only a gross expression of 
the idea, commonly encouraged by the use of 
the New Altar, with regard to its virtue as a 
help to conversion. The whole system is so or- 
dered, as to promote the delusion that the use 
of it serves some purpose in the regeneration of 
the soul. 

4. Harm and loss to the souls of men flow 
largely from the use of the New Altar. 

It is an injury in the case of an awakened 
sinner, to have his attention diverted, in the 
first place, from the real issue before him to one 
that is false. It is an injury farther, to have 
reflection arrested, and the workings of true 
conviction in part or altogether overwhelmed? 
by the confusion incident upon being urged to 
go to the Priest in order to receive absolution. 
It is an injury again, to be induced to lean 
upon such an invention ; as though it could 
have any efficacy at all to bring the soul near 



148 THE NEW ALTAR 

to God. But the harm and loss occasioned by 
the sj^stein, reach much farther than this. 

The inward tumult resulting from the ide^ 
of receiving absolution at the hand of a human 
priest, is in a high degree unfavorable to gen- 
uine seriousness, while it lasts, and is sure to 
be followed b} r a reaction, still more hurtful to 
the spirit. A minister of the Reformed Church 
remarked to the writer, that he could not see 
why the Reformed Church should not have con- 
fessionals, as well as the Romish Church. Of 
course he could see no reason, nor can any 
other High-Churchist. 

A most unhappy influence is exerted on those 
who are drawn to this New Altar, and after- 
wards live an openly profane and careless life. 
They may have had but very little conviction, 
perhaps none at all. But they were urged on, 
and without knowledge or reflection, they be- 
came admirers of the New Altar, vaguely ex- 
pecting to receive religion at the laying on of 
the Priest's hand in absolution. Afterward 
they find themselves without the smallest desire 
to live a pious life. Many earnest minded per- 
sons, led captive through the importance of the 
system, have too much common sense to set any 
value on the mere fact of the Priest's hand 
being laid upon them ; and having too much 



THE NEW ALTAR 



149 



conscience to be willing to allow the New Altar 
to pass for more than they know or believe it 
to be worth, the}' consider the whole thing a 
deception, a priestly trick, and consequently go 
to the opposite extreme and have no desire 
either to be, or to be considered, religions. And 
yet these persons have admired the New Altar, 
and to the priest have confessed their sins. All 
this must work injuriously on their minds now. 
Rash vows are always hurtful. The posture 
with regard to religion, is altogether worse than 
it was before. Often disgust and irritation to- 
wards the whole subject, are the consequence. 

But in a vast multitude of instances, the 
operation of the system is worse still. The 
slightly convicted are even more read}' to go to 
the New Altar in the way of a profession than 
those who are deeply conscious of their misery 
and sinfulness. As already seen, powerful con- 
siderations are urged, besides the interest of 
their salvation, to influence persons to become 
ardent admirers of the system. Once drawn 
within the net of fashionable High-Churchism, 
and there is very little chance of getting out 
honorably or comfortably, except by getting 
through on the side of semi-Romanism, if not 
into Rome itself. There is room too for the 
working of ambition and emulation ; a desire to 



150 THE NEW ALTAR. 

be regarded High-Church in the full sense of 
the term. This wicked spirit animates whole 
congregations. "Style" is everything ; Christ 
in the simplicity of Apostolic life, would be no 
Christ at all. Take away the costly robes, the 
candlesticks with their costly surroundings, the 
richly carved golden censer, filled with precious 
spices that send up amid the smoke rare fumes; 
take all this away, and place Paul before the 
audience, as he stood on Mar's Hill, and told 
the Greeks they worshiped the "Unknown 
God" — let Paul thus stand before sinners, and 
with his earnest soul preach the Cross of 
Christ — and soon the jeweled matrons, and 
pearl-decked maidens, and gray-haired aristo- 
cratic semi-Romanistic fathers with their pomp- 
ous sons — all together would very indignantly 
call Paul a Puritan ! Yes, he might do to preach 
to street-rowdies, but not to a respectable 
audience in a church like "ours." In such a 
congregation there is no room for earnest, 
spiritual instruction or sincere heart-felt reflec- 
tion. A sea of fashion, dark and tempestuous, 
rolls on all sides. Is it strange, that souls thus 
conditioned and surrounded, should become 
the victims of spiritual delusion ? Every form 
of worldliness and fashion, eveiy form of High- 
Churchism, must reach the zenith of its glory. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



151 



How natural in the circumstances to imagine 
that the selfish feeling of pride is after all the 
"one thing needful and that the mysterious 
power of a truly christian life, consists in mov- 
ing in fashionable societ}\ Ah ! It were easy 
enough, if this he true, to sail to Heaven "on 
flowery beds of ease." And how natural that 
the subject of such experience as this should 
be left to enjoy his wild fit of vain conceit, im- 
agining that all the world beside is stupid enough 
not to see the blessedness of such a service as 
this ! Altogether the danger of delusion and 
mistake, where this "style" of advancing the 
cause of Christ prevails, must be acknowledged 
to be very great. The degree of the danger 
will vary of course, with the extent to which 
the characteristic spirit of the system is allowed 
to work. The presence of an Arch-Bishop with 
all the paraphernalia of the system, will of 
course exert an influence far more disastrous, 
than the simple New Altar in a plain Reformed 
Church. But in any form the system is full of 
peril, as opening the wa}^ to spurious conver- 
sions, and encouraging sinners to rest in hopes 
that are vain and false. 

There need be no reserve, in speaking or 
writing on this subject. Neither charity nor 
delicacy requires us to be silent, where the 



152 



THE NEW ALTAR 



truth of religion is itself so seriously concerned. 
To countenance the supposition, that the souls 
which are so plentifully. " carried through" what 
is called the process of absolution under this 
system, are generally children of God in fact, 
would be to wrong the Gospel. "Let God be 
true, though every man should be a liar." Of 
all the hundreds brousjit into the kingdom, 

O © 7 

among Romanists, semi-Romanists, Puseyites 
and all other High-Churchists, who work after 
the same style, how small a proportion give evi- 
dence subsequently that they have been truly 
regenerated. "By their fruits, ye shall know 
them." The Church of Christ at large does not 
feel bound at all to accept as genuine and 
worthy of confidence, all who are numbered 
among the regenerated b} r the laying on of the 
Priest's hands. It is taken for granted, that a 
large part of this multitude will not give an}^ 
evidence of ever having been brought into the 
true kingdom of God. And this actual facts 
prove. So the system unfolds its own naked- 
ness in a practical way. And this nakedness 
comes to view, to some extent, wherever much 
account is made of the New Altar. There may 
be, in some congregations, less of worldliness 
and fashionable extravagances ; no burning 
candles, no smoking pots of incense, no satin 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



153 



gowns and various accompaniments ; still it is 
found that persons brought into the Church by 
this absolution system, do not as a general 
thing give clear evidence of a pious life. No 
one, whose judgment been taught by proper 
observation, will allow himself to confide in the 
results of this priest-craft system, however 
loudly trumpeted, in which the New Altar is 
known to have played a prominent part. He 
may trust charitably that out of the fifty or a 
hundred who have been to the priest for admis- 
sion into the kingdom, some will be found "hold- 
ing fast the beginning of their confidence firm 
unto the end," and thus prove their living union 
with Christ ; but he will stand prepared to hear 
of a great falling away, in the case of the ac- 
cessions as a whole, in the course of no incon- 
siderable time. Of course it is not meant that 
by falling away, these persons leave off to ad- 
mire the New Altar; by no means; the falling 
away consists in too many instances in becom- 
ing greater admirers of the novelties of the sys- 
tem than they are lovers of Christ. So far as 
the true influence of the system is concerned, 
there remains scarcely a vestige of what really 
constitutes the Church of Christ. And it is no 
uncommon thing to find that churches instead 
of growing spiritually, and thus gatheiing 



154 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



strength, really become more and more worldly, 
just in the proportion that these novelties are 
introduced ; just to the extent, that priestcraft 
is allowed to take the place of Christ in the 
churches, to the same extent, the devil gains 
the vantage ground, and as a consequence 
greater account is made of all the mummeries 
that tend to confuse and confound the true 
spiritual interests of the immortal soul. If any 
weight is to be attached to observations, which 
are on all sides within reach of those who choose 
to inquire, it must be evident that as this sys- 
tem is in all respects suited to produce spurious 
conversions, so it is continually producing them 
in fact, to a terrible extent. For the evil is not 
to be measured of course simply by the actual 
amount of open defection, that may take place 
among those who are thus brought to "embrace 
the fashionable religion. 1 '' So many and so 
strong are the considerations that must operate 
upon an admirer of the New Altar, to hold fast 
at least the form of godliness, after it has been 
once assumed, though wholly ignorant of its 
desolating power spiritually, that we may well 
be surprised to find the state of things what it 
is. As it is, it becomes certain, in the very 
nature of the case, that the apparent apostasy 
forms only a part of the evidence of the bad 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



155 



tendency of the system. While some go away 
from among the High-Churchists, either to 
Rome, or to join the ranks of infidelity, many 
others remain with a name to live while spirit- 
ually they are dead ; others again, overcoming 
the false tendency of the system, and possess- 
ing the spirit of the true Church of Christ live 
as good christians live. But in Rome the S3 r s- 
tem flourishes gloriously ; there the difficulties 
with which Protestantism must contend in 
"bringing forth," are removed. The people 
are to a great extent without the Bible ; priest- 
craft runs wild ; ignorance abounds ; super- 
stitious mummeries are in the highest repute. 
There are the candles, the pots of burning 
incense, the boy s with silver bells : the priests 
with their many colored robes, and fancy caps, 
the bishops with their golden crosses, their 
magisterial sceptre, their gorgeous robes of 
many varieties, their immense and strangely- 
fanciful head-gear : there too are the arch-bish- 
ops with their hosts of attending priests all 
clad in strangely-ornamented robes, and the 
attendants in their long white gowns. See 
how the priests, bishops, and arch-bishops bow 
and go through their various genuflections : 
they are graceful enough to be sure : look how 
reverently the priests do obeisance to the bish- 



156 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



op, and the bishops to the arch-bishop : then 
too there is the Pope. How gorgeously he is 
clad, and with what dignity he sits in Peter's 
great chair : priests, bishops and arch-bishops 
must approach reverently, and it were a blessed 
privilege to kiss his sceptre. As for the people, 
they know only to obey : they may not dream 
of asking to have the Bible : if given, it is 
counted a kind of special favor: the people 
are not to presume upon the inability of Rome 
to save not only single souls, but save the 
world. Why need the Bible ? The Priest can 
tell the people all they ought to know — let the 
people not dare to question the judgment of 
the Priest. This were worse than sacrilege. 

It is not easy to believe that this system has 
already gained such fearful hold upon the 
mind of a single minister of the Protestant 
Church, as to induce him to declare that the 
people ought not to have the Bible : it is not easy 
to believe that a Professor in a Protestant 
Institution, really teaches the necessity of the 
penitent soul going to the Priest to receive ab- 
solution : no, it is not easy to believe that 
ministers of any Protestant denomination 
would venture to teach such doctrines ; and 
3 r et it is true that such views are entertained. 
It is a notorious fact that wherever the true 



THE NEW ALTAR.. 



157 



spirit of this system gains a permanent foot 
hold, there priestcraft begins to domineer. — 
Gradually all authority centres in the Priests : 
the rights of the people are ignored. In this 
tendency, the first grand invention consists in 
declaring that penitent souls may not go di- 
rectly to Christ. Rome says the forms must 
come in between Christ and the soul : Protes- 
tanism on the other hand, solemnly affirms that 
the penitent receives pardon and peace only 
from Christ. Rome says the external goes 
before the internal: Protestantism declares 
that the internal goes before the external. — 
For the Protestant Church, this New Altar is 
Rome in disguise. Strange that a Protestant 
minister can find it in his soul to endorse the 
system, as though it carried with it the unmis- 
takable seal of Heaven. These admirers of 
the New Altar shrink from attempting any 
of the gross outrages of the fully developed 
system, as in Rome ; but having such great 
admiration of the s}-stem, they begin where 
Rome began, in the principle of the Church as 
taught by the fathers of the second century. — 
They talk loudly about ancient forms, and the 
ancient faith. After all, if we would learn 
from the example of Rome ; if we would de- 
plore the ignorance and spiritual death of that 



158 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



apostate Church, we will do well to pause and 
consider. If we have any regard for the souls 
of men ; if, as ministers, we have any of the 
spirit of Paul, we will do well to hesitate, ere 
we make the fearful leap into the vortex of 
Romanistic superstitions ; we will fear to drag 
with us into perdition the souls of men. Rath- 
er will we seek, like Paul, to preach Christ to 
dying men : point the anxious to Christ and 
urge with earnest souls, the absolute necessity 
of prayer for the gifts of repentance toward 
God and a true faith in Christ. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



159 



CHAPTER T. 



THE NEW ALTAR VINDICATED ON INSUFFICIENT 
GROUNDS: — 1. AS BRINGING THE SINNER TO A 
DECISION; — 2. AS INVOLVING HIM IN A COM- 
MITTAL ; 3. AS GIVING FORCE TO HIS PUR- 
POSE * — 4. AS A PENETENTIAL DISCIPLINE ) 

5. AS NECESSARY FOR THE PURPOSE OF INSTRUC- 
TION 6. AS OPENING THE WAY FOR PRAYER. 

In view of such disastrous action as we have 
now been called to contemplate, we ask on 
what grounds the use of the Xew Altar is 
vindicated. These should be of great force, 
to counterbalance the weight of mischief with 
which it is attended. Xo divine appointment 
is pleaded in its favor.* We could not sup- 
pose for a moment indeed, that any appoint- 

A good deal Las been said indeed of the principle 
of the system, as presented, according to its advocates, 
in the Scriptures. So every abuse in the Romish 
Church came in, under the shadow of Scriptural pre- 
cedent. Her fasts, her vigils, her relics, her penan- 
ces, &c, all foand a show of support in the word of 
God. The angelic institute of MONKERY was abund- 
antly commended, by the same authority. Was not 
John the Baptist a monk ; and Elijah, the Tishbite ; 
and Elisha, the son of Shaphat ; and the sons of the 
prophets by Jordan; and the Rechabites; were thej^ 
not examples in point, so far at least as the principle of 
the system was concerned? So argued the fathers of 



160 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



ment of God could be associated with such bad 
influences and tendencies, as are found to hold 
in connection with this invention. But it is 
not pretended to make the system of Scriptu- 
ral authority. It is vindicated on other 
grounds ; with variable argument to suit the 
occasion. These, however, are by no means 
satisfactory. 

1. It serves, we are told, to bring awakened 
sinners to a decision. They are disposed to 
avoid this. They halt between two opinions. 
They should not be allowed to live without 
going to the Priest to ask absolution. The 
Gospel calls sinners to this determination. It 
is well, therefore, to shut them up to this point. 
This is done effectually by the New Altar sj^s- 
tem. 

In behalf of sinners this sounds well. But 
what is it that the sinner decides, when he 
makes up his mind to go to the Priest, seek- 
ing absolution ? Is it this that is meant ? 

''I'll go to Jesus, though my sin 
Hath like a mountain rose ; 
I know his courts, I'll enter in, 
Whatever may oppose." 



the ancient Church ; and it must be confessed, with full 
as much reason on their side, as the advocates of the 
New Altar have, when they appeal to the Bible, ill 
like strain, for the support of their favorite system. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



161 



Is this the decision, which going to the 
Priest really involves ? Then it is the same 
thing with conversion ; the resolution of the 
prodigal carried into effect, when out of a deep 
sense of his poverty and misery he arose and 
went to his father. And so much as this, the 
considerations ' by which he is urged to go to 
the Priest, would seem to imply. But when 
the point is pressed, we learn that no such ex- 
travagant supposition is entertained. Going 
to the Priest is not going to Christ. The sin- 
ner kneeling before the Priest, is the sinner 
still; he yet hangs between Christ and the 
world ; he may still go away halting between 
two opinions, as fully as if he had not gone to 
the Priest at all. Everything turns in the case 
of the sinner upon whether he will truly con- 
fess so as to receive absolution. Then, too, the 
Priest might have some fanciful whim — com- 
mon to human nature under a peculiar indivi- 
dual form — to gratify, and therefore refuse 
absolution, without which the poor sinner 
would be worse off than before — for without 
this absolution, as already seen, the sinner 
can enjoy no true sense of forgiveness of sin, 
nor peace of mind and heart. What shall we 
say of such a decision ? A decision, so far as 
relation to Christ is concerned, that decides 



162 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



nothing '? The apostles, we are told, insisted 
upon sinners deciding the question of going 
to Christ at once, and we should do the same 
thing. "Come, unto me," says Jesus, "all ye 
that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give 
you rest." Surely the Saviour did not intend 
to say to the penitent sinner, Go to the Priest, 
who will mediate for 3^011. Even the mighty 
Paul in view of an} 7 such idea of absolution, 
would cry out, ''-Sirs, Why do ye these things? 
We also are men of like passions with you, and 
preach unto you, that you should turn from such 
vanities unto the living God." So certainly we 
should also speak. To the penitent sinner first 
of all we can only say, "Turn unto the living 
God:" — vain is the help of man, equally vain 
the help of the Priest. The struggle is a 
struggle for life, spiritual life. The sinner 
must plead for mercy: lie must pra} 1 - for the 
gifts of repentance toward God and a true 
faith in Christ : until first of all these heaven- 
ly gifts have been bestowed, there is no hope. 
Truly the apostles always first called men to 
repentance. Calvin says, " Repentance is a 
true conversion of our life to God, proceeding 
from a sincere and serious fear of God and 
consisting in the mortification of the flesh and 
of the old man, and the vilification of the 



THE NEW ALTAR. 163 

Spirit." When Peter found the multitude a- 
wakened on the day of Pentecost, he called 
them to an immediate decision in Christ : no 
Priest needed to pronounce absolution. Christ 
Himself stands ready to give peace to the 
soul: "Behold," says Jesus, "I stand at the 
door and knock, if any man will open, 1 will 
come in and sup with him and he with me" — 
Again, "Gome unto me, all ye thai are weary 
and heavy laden" A voluntary decision to 
open the door of the heart, and Christ enters 
the dwelling of the soul : a voluntary decision to 
go to Jesus — and like the returning prodigal, the 
penitent soul finds the Saviour precious. Xo ! 
roars the Priest, come unto me, ye who are 
trying to find the Lord, I will mediate for 
you ; Christ, he would add, has appointed me 
to attend to this business. Deluded Priest ! 
The Saviour says : " All power is given 
to me in heaven and earth ;" where has the 
Lord said, 4 I have given all power to the priest V 
Where, indeed, has He said that he has author- 
ized Priests to mediate between the souls of 
the penitent and Himself? The conversion 
of the soul, the gift of the new and spiritual 
life, may not be had, through the mediation of 
priests : only Christ is the great High Priest. — 
Why, then, shall these vain men mock us with 
6 



164 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



the wicked pretence of granting absolution ? — 
If souls can be born again by going to the 
priest, let it be openly affirmed : if Christ has 
authorized any such mediation of life as this, 
let it be shown from the blessed Word of God. 
If Rome does claim this power, that is no 
proof of the fact, that Christ authorized any such 
vain assumption. Let not the vain pretence 
be made, that the Word of God teaches that 
by going to the Priest a decision is made for 
Christ : it cannot be shown. 

2. But the ground now is changed ; sinners 
are not brought exactly to a decision in Christ 
by going to the New Altar, but they are 
brought at least to a committal ; and this is 
considered to be of great account. Let sin- 
ners live without going to the New Altar, and 
there is danger that t\\ey will be kept away 
from Christ. We should at least take advan- 
tage of circumstances, and persuade all to go 
to the Priest, for in so doing, we engage them 
to take a step, by which they shall feel them- 
selves committed to the world, as well as to 
their own consciences, in favor of religion. — 
This is effectually accomplished when we get 
them to go to the Priest. They bind them- 
selves by this act to the Lord. The thing is 
known and talked about. They feel themselves 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



165 



bound, and their shame and pride come in to 
fortify the higher influence, by which they are 
urged to go forward and not "draw back to 
perdition." 

Low and jejune must be the conception of 
religion, which can allow such a view as this 
to be entertained. It is well indeed that sin- 
ners should bind themselves by an inward reso- 
lution^ to seek the Lord, while he is to be found ; 
and it is right that they should be urged to do 
this, on all suitable occasions. But such a 
resolution to be of any account, must proceed 
from intelligent reflection, and inward self- 
possession ; and it can have no salutary force, 
except as entertained in the consciousness of 
God's presence and God's authority, to the 
exclusion comparatively of all inferior re- 
ferences. Xothing can be more irrational, 
than to think of trapping the sinner in this 
way, and then holding him fast by the force of 
an outward bond. The circumstances, in 
which he is urged to put his soul thus under 
pledge, are the very worst that could well be 
imagined for the purpose. Yolney, in a storm 
at sea, was not more fully at the mercy of an 
element beyond himself. Death-bed resolu- 
tions, notoriously hollow as they are, embrace 
just as much rational freedom. The vows of 



166 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



a drunkard, in ordinary cases, are but little re- 
spected. But here where fashion, worldliness, 
sympathy with Rome, combine to wrap the 
spirit in a tornado of outward forms and cere- 
monies, till the judgment is confounded, the 
greatest account is made of the arrangements, 
and every act is employed in order to influence 
old and young to such an extent, that they 
may feel themselves bound subsequently to 
"follow on to know the Lord." A large pro- 
portion of such resolutions must necessarily 
be without inward force ; and now the sense 
or commitment is indeed required to sustain 
the solemn step that has been taken. But 
what is this, in the circumstances, but the sub- 
stitution of low worldly references, as far as it 
prevails, for that consciousness of the soul's 
relation to God, in which alone, as we have 
already seen, any resolution of this sort can 
truly stand. So far exactly as the soul is 
swayed by any thought other than a sincere de- 
sire by divine grace to lead a holy life, just to 
the same extent, is the true idea of conviction 
wanting altogether. "How can ye believe,' 7 
says Christ, "which receive honor one of an- 
other, and seek not the honor that cometh from 
God." A reigning respect for the fashion of 
the world, under any form, disqualifies the soul 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



for attending sincerely to the great interests 
of religion. 

In a multitude of instances these committals, 
secured b}^ the tact of the priest, are followed 
by reaction in the minds of those who have 
been drawn into them in this outward way, of 
the most unhappy kind. They fall back into 
open worklliness, in some instances not with- 
out disappointment and vexation, in the rec- 
ollection of their weakness in being urged to 
go jto the Priest ; and their state subsequently 
is worse than it was before. In the case of 
many others, the committal has its force no 
doubt, in carrying them forward, till by prayer 
to God for the gifts of repentance and true 
faith, they do really get into the Church of 
Christ ; and their profession possibly may have 
the same power to hold them to the forms of 
a pious life, even to the end of the earthly 
conflict. But it is for the most part a false 
hope, this thing of going to the priest, and 
unless the true G-ospel idea of salvation by a 
living faith in Christ, be otherwise secured, 
there can be only a vain show of religion. — 
The Church, in this way, is filled with hypo- 
crites, and nob with truly humble and devoted 
sons and daughters of God in Christ. 

3. But the ground may be slightly changed 



168 



THE NEW ALTAR, 



again, so as to present the system, not in the 
light exactly of a bond upon the sinner's soul, 
but as a prop and support rather to his weak- 
ness. A first step often costs more than a 
hundred that follow. A world of hesitation, 
in certain circumstances, is surmounted by a 
single effort to move. The sinner, when first 
awakened, shrinks from making his case 
known, and his concern, pent up in his own bo- 
som, is not likely to be as strongly active, as it 
would be if it could appear in an outward form. 
Let him go, then, to the priest. The man who 
signs a temperance pledge, finds his resolution 
to be sober supported by the act. Hundreds 
of drunkards have been enabled in this way to 
reform completely, who without this help, 
would have had no power to rise. 

This is plausible; but it will not bear ex- 
amination. A first step is of great account in 
religion; but only where it springs freely 
from the will; which it cannot do without re- 
flection and self-command. An outward en- 
gagement to seek the Lord can be of no use, 
without a certain measure of intelligent con- 
viction within ; and where this is present, it 
will not be difficult to secure whatever may be 
proper or desirable in the other form, without 
having recourse to an expedient so full of dan- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



169 



ger. 'It is a part of the spiritual policy of the 
Romish Church to entice those who are seri- 
ous by means of vows, into positions from 
which they cannot draw back, with the view of 
thus establishing them in the purpose of a 
religious life. But we all know how little is 
gained in the Romish Church, by this policy. — 
It is true indeed, that a drunkard may sign the 
temperance pledge, even when he is drunk, and 
afterwards keep it. But there is a vast differ- 
ence between the object of the temperance 
pledge, and that which it is proposed to reach 
by means of the New Altar. The one is fully 
within the compass of the human will and hu- 
man strength ; the other is beyond it entirely.* 
The one may be mastered in the flesh; the 
other cannot be approached or understood, ex- 
cept in the Spirit. In any case vows or pledges 
that spring from outward influence rather than 
* 

At this fearful point, according to the New Altar sys- 
tem, the. Priest meets the sinner to help him out of this 
weak state. "The power of absolution is always 
at hand to be used.''' It is not said, The Holy Ghost 
in the sinner, or the sinner born of the Spirit in Christ, 
subaaits to God. No, not this : and yet any view that 
stops short of this is rotten as Pelagianism itself. The 
New Altar system utterly rejects the idea of the Holy 
Ghost working outside of the High-Church system. To 
be born of the Spirit without the Priest's hands being 
laid upon the sinner, is regarded as dangerous here- 
sy. Rome can say no more ! 



170 THE NEW ALTAB. 

reflection, are to be regarded as fanatical, 
and as such neither rational nor free; and 
though in certain cases, men may seem to 
be strengthened and supported by them, 
in the prosecution of good ends belonging 
to a lower sphere, they are ever to be dep- 
recated in the sphere of religion, as tend- 
ing only to delusion and sin. It is well known, 
that Rome keeps the Bible from the people for 
the express purpose of preventing this very kind 
of reflection, regarded by Protestantism as ab- 
solutely necessary in order to a correct idea of 
what Christian duty really means. This New 
Altar s}^stem aims to accomplish the very same 
end : a tendency ever to be deprecated as fear- 
fully ruinous to the true well-being of immor- 
tal souls ; and equally destructive to the spread 
of Gospel Truth. 

4. The system is sometimes recommended on 
the ground, that it is well suited to break the 
sinner' } s pride. The carnal mind is not willing 
to stoop to the shame of the Cross in the view 
of a sinful world.* It is difficult, at the same 

We knew an instance in which a lawyer wished to 
connect himself with the Chureh. He made applica- 
tion to the officers of a congregation ; he was required 
to answer certain questions, asked by the pastor in the 
presence of the officers. He declined, and shortly after 
was admitted into a High Church congregation without 
a question being asked. No Cross to be carried ! 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



Ill 



time, to bring it to a clear sight of the fact, in 
its own case. But the Xew Altar reduces the 
question to a present point. If unwilling to 
stoop to the self-denial involved in doing this, 
how can the awakened person be willing to do 
anything that religion requires. Thus the 
pride and wickedness of the heart, in relation 
to salvation, are forced home upon the individ- 
ual's consciousness ; and when at length, un- 
der the pressure of this conviction, he goes to 
the Priest and openly confesses, his pride is 
prostrated, and he is no longer ashamed to ap- 
pear in this way earnestly concerned about the 
"style" of the system, as well as the salvation 
of his soul. 

But it is easy to see, that on the same princi- 
ple any test, which might be imagined, for the 
same purpose, could be justified with equal 
ease. The sinner might be required to sit at 
the church door, clothed in sackcloth and ashes, 
begging an interest in the prayers of all the 
entering worshipers ; or to travel through all 
the aisles on his knees, in token of his 
humiliation. If unwilling to bend to such a 
requirement, how should he be counted truly 
in earnest, with respect to the main point ? — 
In this way, the whole system of Romish pen- 
ance might challenge our respect. In truth. 



172 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



however* no account is to be made of any such 
outward demonstration, as a test or token of a 
sinner's feelings, in the particular view now 
considered. Popish penances involve com- 
monly no spiritual mortification, and have no 
tendency whatever to reconcile men to the 
mortification of Christ. The sinner may be 
brought to lick the dust, if need be, under the 
pressure of an alarmed conscience, without a 
particle of that inward humiliation before 
God, which the idea of religion demands. So 
it is possible, and no doubt exceedingly com- 
mon, for persons to stand around this New 
Altar, with very little, if any feeling at all of 
this sort. Where the idea prevails that there 
is religion, to some extent, in coming out in 
this outward way, hundreds may easily be en- 
gaged to do so, just as under parallel circum- 
stances they might be engaged to flagellate 
themselves publicly through the streets, with- 
out the least benefit in the wa}^ of conquest 
over their carnal pride. In some instances, 
among those who stand around this New Al- 
tar, there is doubtless the wholesome disci- 
pline of humiliation, in the way supposed, pre- 
paring the spirit to follow Jesus "without the 
camp, bearing his reproach but it is just as 
certain, that the same result has been secured. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 173 

in some cases, by the penetential castigations 
of the Romish Church, or the wilful self-in- 
flictions of fanaticism, in its worst forms. — 
Where the soul is already prepared for spir- 
itual humiliation, either the scourge or the 
New Altar, if duty accredited to the sin- 
ner's conscience as the power of God for 
the purpose, may serve as an occasion to 
promote this end. This is no reason, how- 
ever, why we should have recourse to the one 
or the other, in seeking to advance the inter- 
ests of religion. There is no direct adaptation 
in either, to produce evangelical humiliation. — 
They are suited rather, as has been shown 
already in the case of the New Altar, to blind 
the soul to the true nature of such humilia- 
tion, by fixing its attention unduly on outward 
references and, outward acts, and challenging 
it to a wilful more than a ivilling service. It 
were well to remember here, what the Apostle 
says most profoundly on the subject of such 
"will-worship," with its "show of wisdom," at 
the close of the second chapter of his epistle 
to the Colossians. 

5. But again. — The use of the New Altar is 
vindicated, as affording an opportunity for 
meeting the case of awakened sinners with 
suitable instruction. By going to the Priest 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



they become known. The Priest can converse 
with them in the confessional* individually. — 
What they need is particular instruction as to 
the powers of the Priest, and the importance of 
implicit obedience. It is not by dashing wa- 
ter in a large way over a congregation of 
empty bottles, that a Priest can expect to get 
even a few of them filled ; if he would labor 
to any purpose he must leave the "reading desk" 
placed in a corner of the church, in imitation 
of what ought to be the Pulpit, from which 
Christ by a faithful servant would speak, and 
go into the confessional, there to pour the wa- 
ter of priest-craft into each according to the 
capacity of its mouth. 
* 

High Churchists know better than to speak openly 
of establishing the Confessional in the Reformed 
Church. That the Confessional does belong to the sys- 
tem, they cannot deny. In England the High -Church- 
ists have established the C )nfessional in many congre- 
gations. This cannot be denied. Dr. Wiseman, of the 
R omish Church, says : "It seems to me impossible to 
read the works of the Oxford divines, and especially to 
follow them chronologically, without discovering a daily 
approach toward our holy Church, both in doctrine and 
affectionate feeling. Our saints, our popes, have become 
dear to them by little and little ; our rites and ceremo- 
nies, our offices, nay, our rubrics, are precious in their 
eyes, fab, alas! beyond what many of us consider 
them " Dr. Wiseman adds : "Our monastic institutions, 
our charitable and educational provisions, have become 
more and more objects with them of earnest study ; 
and everything, in fine, that concerns our religion, 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



But when we look a little into the matter, 
we shall find this object of instruction reduced 
to a perfect farce. There are two ways by 
which those who go to the confessional, may be 
addressed. If there are too man}' for the 
Priest to manage — for Priests generally are 
not fond of any severe exertion — he may en- 
gage others to take part with him in the work. 
This must be considered the plan most conge- 
nial with the idea of the system. For the ob- 
ject, we are told, is to make instruction par- 
ticular and specific ; and how can this be ac- 
complished so well as by taking each case sep- 
arately? The Priests are well aware of the 
very great advantage of this peculiarity 
of the system. It is customary accordingly, 
when sinners come to the confessional to attend 
to the business in this way. The priest admits 
the inquiring souls, only one by one ; and in a 
low, sepulchral voice, asks a question or two as 
to the person's spiritual condition. These are 
answered commonly in the most general and 

deeply interests their attention." Soon Protestant High- 
Churchmen will favor Monkery, and nunnery, and onto 
the end of the Roman absurdities. It only argues 
weakness on the part of the Revolutionists in the Re- 
formed Church not to come out and manfully defend 
their fanciful system They might as well fall in at 
once, and thus at least act the part of ' honest and sin- 
cere converts to Rome. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



confused way. Then follows a short exhorta- 
tion, for the most part, in the same way, and 
with the same sepulchral tone, on the great sub- 
ject of devotion to the "Church/' love to 
the saints, and especially obedience to the 
Priests. The whole confessional performance 
may not last more than five minutes. So the 
ceremony passes forward to a second, and then 
to a third, and so on till all have their turn. — 
And this is called spiritual instruction ! If a 
physician were seen handling a dozen patients 
in the same style, the spectacle might well call 
for derision. But after all, it would be no 
such mummer}^ as we have here. One of the 
most difficult and delicate functions a minister 
of Christ is called to perform, is that of giving 
counsel to awakened sinners. None calls for 
more caution and discrimination. It is hard 
to ascertain correctly the state of the spiritual 
patient, and hard to suit the prescription wise- 
ly to his particular wants. It is so, where 
there may be the fullest opportunity for free, 
calm investigation, in the family visit, or in a 
private interview. But here in the confession- 
al, where all surrounding influences conspire 
to complicate the difficulty to the greatest ex- 
tent, in the midst of commotion without and 
commotion within, it is proposed to dispose of 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



m 



a dozen such cases perhaps in the course of 
half an hour. And to make the matter worse, 
if the number of applicants at the confession- 
al, is large, this, that and the other priest, to- 
tal strangers to the inquiring souls, may take 
part in the ghostly work, under the same form, 
and in the same way. And is it possible, that 
sensible men, in the fair use of their senses, 
can fail to be struck with the utter absurdity 
of such a process ? The only fair parallel, to 
it, in the medical sphere, would be the mock- 
ery of three or four raw practitioners going 
the rounds of a hospital, and administering to 
fifty cases of diversified diseases, within the 
same time, as many doses of Thomson's mix- 
ture, Number Six. In the latter case, the 
thing would be counted and called quackery of 
the first degree ; and surely it is hard to see 
why it should go under any softer apellation 
in the former. The only difference might seem 
to be, in the solemnity of the interests involv- 
ed in the two different circles of action. The 
Thompsonian tampers only with the life of the 
body, while the spiritual practitioner plays 
blindly with the precious life of the soul. 

If "profitable for instruction" at all, then, 
the New Altar must be made subservient, in a 
different way. Considering the circumstances 



178 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



of the case, the only rational course, with a 
number thus going to the confessional, would 
be to spend the few minutes usually devoted to 
them, in counsels and exhortations addressed 
to them collectively. But this, it seems, is in 
direct violation of the theory. No use in try- 
ing to show that the cases of the truly awaken- 
ed are always sufficiently near alike, to admit 
of a large amount of most pointed and perti- 
nent instruction in the same form for all : no use 
in saying that any one, who is truly a well in- 
structed scribe in the Gospel, will be able to 
address those who come to the confessional to 
much more purpose in this way, than if a few 
remarks were made to each one separately : 
no, it were no use thus to argue the case. In- 
deed, it were only madness to attempt to show, 
that an earnest servant of Christ could present 
the same truths to penitent souls, as included 
in the congregation. 

The New Altar, as such, is of no account, 
in an}^ view, as a help to instruction ; <and it is 
not hard to perceive, that as a general thing, 
where it is used, this does not form its main 

recommendation, in the eyes of its admirers 

Even if it did, as matters now stand in the 
Reformed Church, these Priests would not dare 
to disclose the cloven-foot of Rome in this 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



"style:" they have too much common sense to 
attempt to start such a thing as a confessional. 
Rome did not at first dare to do this : she be- 
gan just as these Priests are trying to begin. — 
First of all, the people must be taught to love 
improvements in the " Order" of things : they 
must be made to feel dissatisfied with the 
Apostolic customs : this point once secured, 
Rome set out on developments, and gloriously 
has she triumphed in deluding the people. This 
is the priest-craft "style" of doing things. — 
Only because the Germans are warmly attached 
to the old Reformed order of worship, have they 
been unable to see or understand the impor- 
tance attached to this priestly idea of confes- 
sional instruction, Some High-Churchists 
have intimated that it only argues ignorance 
not to be able to appreciate this churchly sys- 
tem. If this be true, then the Reformed peo- 
ple may well glory in this kind of ignorance. — 
If intelligence centres in our appreciation of 
these Anglo-Roman innovations, then the 
less we have, the better. But these Revolu- 
tionists are not likely to convince themselves, 
and much less others who have no faith in any 
such Romish superstitions, that any truth 
is really found to underlie this priestly 
system, Any instructions found to flow 



180 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



from the idea of a confessional, it is easily 
seen, do not deserve to be called by such 
name. The absurdity of the idea is sufficient- 
ly evident : especially is this true with regard 
to what the Germans can see involved in the 
system. There is yet too great a love of 
Apostolic truth and freedom, too much of the 
glorious spirit of the martyred dead, whose 
bones lie on the fields of Switzerland, to allow* 
any such innovations. The Germans love free- 
dom from priestly rule : the blood of the Re- 
formation fathers courses too freely through 
the veins of our Reformed people, to allow a 
system of Anglo-Romanism to take the place 
of our own German Reformed order of Apos- 
tolic Worship. 

Plainly enough, this confessional idea is of 
no account : the system to which it belongs 
deserves no place in our Reformed Church. 
The idea of imparting instruction is only a 
foolish pretence. Let no Pope, arch-bishop, 
bishop, or priest, pretend to give it counte- 
nance, as tl tough any such prop were of the 
least account for us. We see its unmeaning 
and heathenish formality : we will have none 
of its cruel mockery. We will confess to 
none, but to Christ our Lord : Ave will know no 
absolution, but that which God for Christ's 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



181 



sake pronounces : we will know no peace, but 
that which flows from a conscious knowledge 
of our sin and our reconciliation by the blood 
of the Cross. We will have no priests ; but 
will praj^ God for Christ's sake to send us ear- 
nest servants of the Gospel to lead us in the 
way of truth and righteousness. Servants of 
Christ, who will esteem it a blessed privilege 
to teach us the way of life : love to sit with the 
children to teach them the blessed truths of the 
Gospel of Christ : ministers who, like Paul, are 
humble, and glory only in being servants to 
carry the Gospel to all : ministers, who will be 
found praying in the humble cottage as well as 
in the princely palace. These are the men we 
want to instruct us in the way that will lead us 
and our children to Heaven. This is the kind 
of instruction we want : none other will satis- 
fy the earnest soul. 

6. Lastly it is said that penitent souls ought 
to go to the confessional that they may be 
made the subjects of prayer. They need the 
prayers of the Church ; and the Priest, it may 
be supposed, has a heart to plead with God in 
their behalf. But how shall this be, if they 
are not known by coming to the confessional ? 
By means of this New Altar system, they are 
brought into view in this way, piteously seek- 



182 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



ing an interest in the prayers of the Priest ; 
whose bowels of compassion cannot fail to be 
stirred when the fact is known. 

This might seem to be the great object, in 
the case of such Romanistic performances as 
we have just had under observation. But scenes 
of this sort have no tendency to stimulate the 
spirit of prayer. They form an element un- 
friendly, if not absolutely fatal, to the true idea 
of devotion. This is evident generally, from a 
certain character of irreverance, often grossly 
profane, that is sure to put itself forward in 
such circumstances, in proportion exactty to 
the strength of the reigning priest-craft. And 
in any case, there is reason to believe that more 
is lost than gained for the penitent, as it re- 
gards this interest, by the commotion necessarily 
connected with the idea of going to the confes- 
sional. It is a supicious kind of prayer at best 
that can be engaged, in such circumstances, 
onl t y by the sight of objects, theatrically para- 
ded to produce effect', without the power of a 
more general interest. But it is not necessary 
that any such outward movement should be re- 
quired in order that penitents may be known. 
They may be discovered without the confes- 
sional. It by no means requires a confessional 
to create any such interest ; penitents can be 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



183 



carried upon the hearts of God's people, in the 
sanctuary and in the closet, with an interest far 
more deep and active, than any that this sys- 
tem can produce by means of the confessional. 

I know of no other ground, than those which 
have now been considered, on which the use of 
the New Altar can be vindicated with any plau- 
sible defence. And as these separately taken 
have no force, so neither can they be allowed 
to weigh anything collectively, against the con- 
demnation, in which the system is properly in- 
volved. 



184 



THE NEW ALTAR 



t CHAPTER VI. 



THE SYSTEM OF THE NEW ALTAR TENDS TO DISOR- 
DER. — CONNECTS ITSELF READILY WITH A VUL- 
GAR AND IRREVERENT STYLE IN RELIGION. — NO 
FREE PRAYER IN PUBLIC. INFLUENCE UNFA- 
VORABLE TO DEEP, EARNEST PIETY. — RELATION 
OF THE SYSTEM TO THAT OF THE CATECHISM. 

The jS'ew Altar system tends naturally to dis- 
order. Where any considerable interest pre- 
vails, as in England and in a few congregations 
in this country, it is impossible to avoid the 
confusion of outward forms and ceremonies. It 
is common of course, to have it said in the in- 
terest of the system, that things are conducted 
in a quiet and orderly way. But the true idea 
of quiet and order is apt not to be understood ; 
for it not unfrequently happens, that these ac- 
counts themselves, in close connection with 
such a statement, present evidence sufficient to 
show it not strictly correct.* Some may be 

! * 

In a congregation, in which High-Chnrchism is 
gradually developing, it is said, the Christmas festival just 
celebrated was an improvement on that of last year. — 
Vespers commenced on Christmas eve at nine o'clock. On 
Christmas morning after the sermon "the larger candles 
on the altar were now lighted by an acolyte vested in a 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



185 



pleased to imagine, that there is no disorder at 
such times, unless it come to sing-song Latin 
and gross superstitions, in the style of Romish 
cathedral performances. But the proper order 
of God's sanctuary may be seriously unsettled, 
long before it has gone so far as this. The sys- 
tem involves irregularity to some extent in its 
very nature, and opens the way for extrava- 
gance. It is always ready, if the way be clear, 
to run into disorder and Romish superstition. 
It leads naturally, if encouraged, to more strik- 
ing deviations from the line of Christian sobri- 
ety. It forms* the threshold properly to the 
whole system of Romanism. We may pretend 
to draw a line between this New Altar system, 
and the gross and irreverent superstitions of 

short surplice and long cassock — the ordinary vestments 
of the Roman clergy when not celebrating. The ringing 
of the bell was also noticeable. The celebrant was vested 
in a chasuble ; the deacon wore a dalmatic, and the sub- 
cleacon a tunicle. Each wore a manacle, which is like a 
short stole over the left arm A lacel alb was also worn 
both by the celebrant and the deacon. The celebration 
was musical, and the fine music added to its aesthetic ef- 
fect. The celebrant sang the Communion Office, after the 
Roman manner, instead of the usual intoning in monotone." 
All this in a so-called Protestant Church ! Suppose we 
were to picture Paul to our minds with his "acolyte," 
his "surplice," his ''long cassock " his "bell-boys," his 
"chasuble," his "dalmatic," his ' sub-deacon," his "tu- 
nicle," his "mmicles," his "stole," his "laced alb," his 
"fine music" — amid all this mummery "singing the ser- 
vice."— Paul would not understand the "SERVICE I" 



186 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



Rome, but the line will be an arbitrary one, 
separating things that after all are inwardly re- 
lated. The general principle of the New Altar 
system, and its proper soul, are substantially 
the principle and soul of the entire Romanistic 
system to which it belongs. Let it be consid- 
ered proper to urge penitent souls to go to the 
priest, instead of going to Christ, and why 
should they not be urged with equal propriety 
to go to the confessional, there to receive abso- 
lution ? If one measure of irregularity, m&y 
be allowed on the principle of improvement in 
our system of worship, why should not a larger 
amount of the same be tolerated on the same 
plea ? On the same principle precisely Rome 
has made all her improvements. Who does 
not know that the church-principle laid down 
by Irenseus of the second centuiy, prepared the 
way for the farther departure from Apostolic 
truth by Tertullian ; and the complete develop- 
ment of the Romish theory by Cyprian. True 
Cyprian, in his day, never dreamed of the evil 
use to be made by Rome of the principle he had 
advocated. Every respectable scholar well 
knows that Rome this day stands on the fun- 
damental principle announced for the first time 
in the history of the Christian Church by Ire- 
nsBUS. Romanism puts the Church first, and 



t 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



1ST 



Christ next; Romanism says : where the Church 
is, there Christ is. This is the principle pre- 
cisely taught by Irenseus ; advocated by Ter- 
tullian; and ably defended by Cyprian, and 
this is the principle upon which this High- 
Churchism rests ; identically the same principle 
as that upon which Rome rests. The truth is, 
as 'already intimated, admit the principle, and 
there is no satisfactory stopping place this side 
of Popery in its most abominable form. As 
well attempt to call light, darkness ; an angel 
of Truth, the devil — as attempt to admit the 
truth of this High-Church principle, and not at 
the same time admit that Rome is right, and 
Protestantism is wrong. This Romanistic prin- 
ciple has a life and spirit of its own, that begin 
to be developed in this New Altar, and must 
naturally flow on from that point, to the 
very worst excess of Romish absurdities. Good 
men may try to hold the stream of development 
in check, some atone point and some at another; 
but' it will not consent to be held within the 
limits imposed upon it by their sense of propri- 
ety. It claims to have its origin in Heaven, and 
who in such case, shall presume to say to it, 
"Thus far shalt thou come, but no farther, and 
here shall thy proud waves be stayed?" Prot- 
estantism reverses the order and says : Where 



188 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



Christ is, there the Church is; Rome, according 
to her theory, says, where good works are, there 
is justification ; Protestantism declares, where 
justification is, there good works must follow.* 
Romanism asserts that where the visible Church 
is, there alone the true Church can be : Prot- 
estantism proceeds from the invisible Church, 
the inner bond of unity of which is justifica- 
tion by faith alone, to the visible, the out- 

The immortal Luther would know of no sort of com- 
promise with this Roman principle. Luther says in his 
remarkable profession of faith : "I, Martin Luther, an 
unworthy preacher of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, thus profess and believe that the article or doc- 
trine that, 'Faith alone, without works, can justify a sin- 
ner before God,' shall never be overthrown, neither by 
Emperor or Turk, nor Tartar, nor by the Pope, with all 
his cardinals, bishops, sacrifices, monks, nuns, kings, 
princes, powers of the world, no, nor yet by all the devils 
in hell. The articles shall stand fast whether they will 
or no. This is the true Gospel, that Jesus Christ redeem- 
ed us from our sins, and He only ; and this most firm and 
certain truth is the voice of Scripture, though the world 
and all the devils rage and roar. If Christ alone can take 
away our sins, we cannot do this by our own works ; and 
as it is impossible to embrace Christ but by faith, it is 
therefore equally impossible to embrace him by works. 
If then faith alone must apprehend Christ before works 
can follow, the conclusion is unquestionable, that faith 
alone apprehends Him, before and without the considera- 
tion of works ; and this is our justification and deliver- 
ance from sin Then, and not till then, good works fol- 
low faith as its necessary fruit. This is the doctrine I 
teach ; and this is the doctrine that the Holy Spirit and 
the Church of the faithful have delivered ; and in this 
doctrine I will abide, so help me God. Amen." 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



189 



ward and visible bond of unity being the sacra- 
ments, baptism and the Lord's supper.* Prot- 
estantism tends toward Apostolic simplicity and 
spirituality in worship, relying upon the normal 
law of true freedom in Christ. 

As the spirit of the New Altar system tends 
towards irregularities and superstitious outward 
* 

The importance of this point can never be over-estima- 
ted. The principle lying at the bottom of this whole 
High-Church system is NOT Protestant. Let the truth be 
told, even though the heavens should fall. What the use 
in attempting to conceal this fact? If Rome be right, 
let the world know it — let the fact be proven. Why 
attempt to disguise the principle, on the assumption 
that Home has only abused it ? The trick is too 
shallow, The Protestant world declares Rome in error, 
and equally certain High-Churchism based upon the 
Romanistic principle is in the same line of error. — 
There is no neutral ground ; it is only a trick to try to 
mix the two systems ; as well attempt to mix oil and water; 
as well attempt to call the devil, Gabriel ; or Belial, 
Christ. If Rome is right. Protestantism is wrong ; and 
equally certain, if Protestantism is right, is according to 
the Gospel of Christ, mainly on the principle ot justifi- 
cation by fath alone — then Rome is wrong. Those 
who love Rome, and the P^omanistic principle, let them 
act as true men and go to Rome ; those who believe in 
the principle of Protestantism, let them defend the Prot- 
estant faith, and not be forever apologizing for Rome. — 
We believe in the Protestant principle ; we cannot apolo- 
gize for Rome ; we ane bouud to be consistent and must, 
while we remain a Protestant, condemn High-Churchism 
as an unworthy effort to steal the livery of Rome in which 
to serve Protestantism. This is a low sort of trickery in 
any Protestant ; and deserves alike the contempt of every 
good Romanist, as well as good Protestant. 



190 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



forms, so it connects itself also naturally and 
readily with a false feeling in religion, that is 
always injurious to the worship of God, and 
often shows itself absolutely irreverent and 
profane. True religious feeling is inward and 
deep ; shrinks from show ; forms the mind to 
a subdued humble habit. "The language of ex- 
perience is," says one whose word should have 
weight, "that it is unsafe and unwise to bring 
persons, who are under religious impressions, 
too much into public view. The seed of the 
Word, like the natural seed, does not vegetate 
well in the sun." We may say, then, that there 
is a measure of rudeness connected with the 
particular "style," often seen in instances where 
this system has full}' developed. To see a 
drunken man stumbling and blundering in 
through a crowd already kneeling, counting 
their beads — to see such a worshiper laying hold 
of a column to steady his reeling brain, and 
then get to his knees, go through his triple- 
crossing movement, quickly mumble over his 
beads, arise and again go blundering and 
stumbling through the crowd until he reaches 
the door, ready to move off t^ get a fresh sup- 
ply of rum — to see all this, is certainly sufficient- 
ly extravagant, one would think, to convince 
the most unbelieving of the truth of the asser- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



191 



tion, that the system is associated with rude- 
ness and profanity in the house of wors hip. — 
The circumstances in connection with such an 
occasion are by no means favorable to true in- 
ward solemnity, such as causes the heart to ex- 
claim — How awful is this place ! The supersti- 
tious mummery tends directly to destroy all 
reverence for God and sacred things. In this 
way High-Churchism, in proportion as it is de- 
veloped, must always work. It gives rise to a 
kind of preaching that has no Gospel-power, 
and is often as well suited to an audience in a 
Mohammedan Mosque, as to an audience in a 
church ; the system creates an appetite for such 
false aliment, that true and solid instruction is 
almost beyond the possibility of relish. All is 
made to tell on the senses and that too, for ef- 
fect. Virtually the Pulpit in the true Gospel 
sense, has no place; a "reading desk," or some- 
times a fancy box, is stuck away to the side of 
the church-room. All this is an insult to the 
cause of truth ; it were more important to have 
the priests perform well, than that the blessed 
Gospel of Christ should be earnestly and faith- 
fully preached. In this way, divine things are 
popularized ; for that will always be popular 
which allows men to keep in view their own part 
in the salvation of the soul. The priest feels 



192 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



himself, and lie is more decidedly bent on mak- 
ing the people do reverence to him, than tha,t 
they should regard him as only the servant of 
Christ. In many cases self-will and priestly 
vanity, far more than faith or trne zeal for the 
salvation of souls, preside over the whole ser- 
vice. Besides, this High-Church spirit is fre- 
quently manifest in harsh denunciations of 
Puritanism and the sect-system; in indirect 
apologies for Rome ; in a desire to expose the 
bad things in Protestantism, and in a persist- 
ent effort to conceal the bad things of Rome. — 
All this is done, seemingly at least, in much the 
same spirit that ungrateful children manifest, 
when constantly publishing their own family 
weaknesses, and forever talking about the hap- 
py home in which certain other children dwell. 
But after all, this is only the first-birth of the 
system ; other Protestant bodies are in advance 
of the Priest-craft movement in the Reformed 
Church. The German-? are naturally averse to 
such novelties; and it requires great caution. 
Here and there an imprudent Priest acts un- 
wisely in disclosing so plainly the "cloven foot" 
of the Romish beast — all this only proves that 
the "Beast," which John saw, is not sufficiently 
concealed. These imprudent Priests will doubt- 
less be censured by those who are more shrewd 



THE NEW ALTAR, 



193 



than to speak so plainly. But what shall we 
think of men who can so far forget the solemn 
vows resting upon them, as to treat in this way 
the faith of our Protestant fathers ? Here is a 
species of irreverence that borders on blasphe- 
my. The man who can speak lightly of the ig- 
norance of those over whom the Lord has placed 
him, asserting that they do not know whether 
the New Altar is to eat or to wear, has precious 
little of the spirit of Christ in his soul. How 
can such a priest preach Christ with an earnest 
heart to a people whom he thus publicly belies? 
But all this is only the first-birth of the system 
in our Reformed Church. Allow such men to 
ha\e the power, and speedily they will have 
candles, and bells, pots of smoking incense, 
robes, acolytes, surplices, long cassocks, chasu- 
bles, dalmatics, deacons, sub-deacons, tunicles, 
manacles, stoles, laced albs, bowings, genuflec- 
tions and so on to the end of the fooleries. All 
this too, without bishops, arch-bishops, cardinals 
or Pope; the door once open, and no end to the 
wildness of the tendency. At least it will end, 
if allowed to move forward according to the 
law of development, in a scene in which all 
worship is clear gone, and priest-craft will reign 
supreme. Bellowing priests going over their 
precious mummery ; people bowing, cross- 



194 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



ing, and counting beads ; some on their knees ; 
some on the floor ; some walking about looking at 
the gorgeous paintings ; some reverencing the 
holy water ; some worshiping the image of the 
Virgin ; others looking at the statue of Peter, 
and the wonders of his great chair. While all 
this is going on, while the crowd is moving and 
people are bowing and going through their 
various forms, the priests, deacons, sub-deacons, 
and bell-boys, are all doing service to the 
bishop. The mysteries of the different robes, 
the lifting up of the great head-gear, the chang- 
ing of the golden candle-sticks, the moyement 
of the pot of smoking incense ; all this in a 
church — surely this is irregularity, vulgarity, 
rudeness — nay, profanity and open blasphemy. 
But to add to the effect, yonder in a dark cor- 
ner of the building is a scene still more extrav- 
agant. A sort of grotto has been constructed ; 
evergreen branches and twigs have been artis- 
tically arranged; a kind of tomb has been 
made within ; the door opens into this mys- 
terious place. After some five or six hours of 
priestty mummery , the solemn procession led by 
the bishop, who is followed by priests, deacons, 
sub-deacons, bell-boys and a long retinue — all 
proceed from the New Altar along the side, of 
the room on to the front, thence to the 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



195 



other side, and on to the grotto ; a solemn 
mockery is gone through — then the bishop pro- 
ceeds to bury the host in the tomb within ! 
Truly may we say, what rude familiarity 
with the High and Holy One ; what low 
belittling and caricaturing of all that is grand in 
the Gospel ; what gross profanity in the style of 
such superstitious performances — and all this as 
though to please the Almighty, or to secure his 
favor in this heathenish way. The atmosphere 
of such a place, may be exciting, intoxicating, 
bewildering ; but it has no power to dispose the 
mind to devotion. There is nothing in the scene 
to impress those who are present with the sense 
of God's awful, heart-sear clung presence. Very 
frequently, while such a chaos of forms and 
ceremonies are being attended to, the lookers- 
on are walking about the spacious room, and, 
even many of those on their knees, betray as 
little devotion as if in a common bar-room. — 
The worshipers themselves, in many, if not most, 
instances, have grown obtuse to the stirring 
show, and feel themselves in no connection 
with what is going forward. Superstition has 
no power to make God's presence felt. "They 
that worship me," says God, u must worship me 
in spirit and in truth." It is wild, presumptuous, 
superstitious and profane, where it affect s to 
T 



196 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



partake most largely of Heaven. No wonder 
that the religion, which is commenced and car- 
ried forward under such auspices, should itself 
be superstitious and profane. Wanting true 
reverence for God, it will be without charity 
also toward men. It is likely to be narrow, in- 
tolerant, sinister and rabidly sectarian. All 
that is spiritually high will become low, and all 
that is beautiful be turned into superstition, in 
its hands. 

A striking illustration of the spirit of this 
false system, as already developed in the inter- 
est of the Reformed Church, is seen in the death- 
blow aimed at free 'prayer. An admirer of the 
s}-stem has been pleased to speak of free prayer 
as "ranting expectorations" Right bravely 
spoken. To a Romanist this sounds churchly. 
Indeed, the proud Pharisee might admire this 
style ; he could say : "God, I thank thee, I am 
not as other men are." Surely all such admi- 
rers of the New Altar System have reason to be 
thankful, if they can find any such feeling in 
their hearts, that they are not as other Protest- 
ants are. Perfectly subjective, and therefore, 
contemptible, is the "ranting expectoration" 
of the publican, who would not so much as lift 
up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his 
breast, saying, "God*, be merciful to me a sin- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



197 



??er." The Saviour says : "This man went down 
to his house justified rather than the other." 

Strangely enough, this false system seems 
to have such complete power over the minds of 
those who are led captive by it, that they can- 
not see any beauty in the simple service of the 
Apostolic order of worship. Rome glories in 
the idea of having done away with all free 
prayer. Following in the footsteps of the an- 
cient bishops, the advocates of the New Altar 
system are aiming to bring about the same re- 
sult in Protestant churches. All this would 
really seem to imply that the Saviour is pleased 
to see the gilded book of forms in the hand of 
Christians. The Order of Worship, the Book of 
Prayer, belong necessarily to the idea of being 
a Christian. This is heartless formalism ; and 
tends directly to the overthrow of Protestant- 
ism. Disorder of the very worst kind is the 
natural tendency of this pernicious system. — 
The Lord loves the humble and those of a con- 
trite heart. They may be the ragged poor, or 
even the road-side beggar ; or they may be the 
prince in his palace, the matron in her satin, the 
maiden in her neat attire, ^he young man in the 
flush of youthful hope — in a word, the old and 
the young, the rich and the poor, the learned 
and the unlearned, all are invited, all are ex- 



198 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



liorted, all are urged, to cultivate the spirit of 
sincere, heart-felt free prayer — a spirit of con- 
stant dependence on God in Christ. This spirit 
of prayer finds expression among the earnest 
people of God in the social prayer-meeting, — 
Take this blessed privilege from God's earnest 
disciples, as Rome has done, and one of the 
most precious privileges of the glorious Church 
of Christ is gone ; take this away, and the fence 
around the vineyard of the Lord is torn down ; 
the devil gains the vantage ground: take this 
away, and the Church of Christ is turned into 
a garden of destruction : take from the Church 
the spirit of free prayer, as so clearly taught in 
the example of the Apostolic Church, and soon 
wild weeds and noxious reptiles will infest the 
ground ; a pandemonium of superstition will take 
the place of the Church of Christ, This cannot 
be ; Christ is still with his Church : the spirit 
of free prayer will continue to live : it will con- 
tinue to increase. For this very reason there 
is just cause to fear the terrible iniquit}^ of this 
High-Churchism. This is an age of prayer ; 
strong cries are going up from all Protestant 
hearts for the more^rapid diffusion of Gospel 
Truth ; for the evangelization of heathen na- 
tions ; for increased power and activity in all 
Christian lands. High-Churchism would influ- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



199 



ence Protestant earnestness to fall in with the 
superstitious mummeries of Rome. The spirit 
of free prayer, so unjustly censured as a spirit 
of ignorance, must be ignored. The prayers of 
God's people, called "ranting expectorations," 
may not be regarded as the surest evidence of 
the earnestness of the Church. Alas ! only too 
true, the superstition and open profanity of this 
High-Churchism, are only the surest evidence 
of the fact that no true spirit of soul-stirring, 
penetential prayer is in any sense identified 
with the sy stem. Surely it is a fearful respon- 
sibility, assumed by any professing Christian, 
to speak of the prayers of God's people as 
"ranting expectorations /" Against such Phari- 
saical presumption, a faithful warning has been 
given. To all those who trifle with the eter- 
nal interests of the soul, the Saviour himself 
says : "Woe unto that man by whom the offence 
cometh." Free prayer belongs to the true idea 
of being a Christian ; it is the Christian's "vital 
breath." The importance of cultivating this 
spirit is be} r ond all question one of the most 
solemn duties belonging to the conception of 
the Christian Life. Xo truth is more clearly 
taught by the Saviour ; no duty more constant- 
ly urged. To think of a book of forms as be- 
longing to the idea of the Christian Life, is an 



200 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



absurdity. On the other hand, to think of living 
the life of the Christian without cultivating the 
spirit of free prayer, is a dangerous kind of ex- 
periment. The Word of God gives no direc- 
tions as to any such idea of duty. 

Clearly enough, the system itself must be re- 
garded as being in league with the powers of 
darkness. Its blinding influence carries men 
captive ; once within the firm grasp of its evil 
power, there is little hope of escape. This is 
seen in the fact that a finite being presumes to 
exercise the prerogative of the eternal Jehovah. 
What sinful creature has been authorized to sit 
in judgment upon the prayers of the humblest 
road-side beggar ? Only God Himself knows 
the heart : — Truly it is only pitiable to hear an 
erring, finite being pronounce any prayer, a 
"ranting expectoration /" Such one most surely 
forgets that the Saviour looketh not upon ap- 
pearances, but into the heart. The ignorant 
can be as sincere as the learned ; the stammer- 
ing, broken words of the illiterate, if uttered in 
faith, are as acceptable to God, as are the 
smoothly flowing sentences of the more highly 
educated. In many instances, the sobbing of 
the earnest soul, is the surest evidence of the 
deepest penitence. Though words be few, yet 
these are not to be despised. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



201 



Well has Protestantism, following the ex- 
ample of the Apostolic Church, guarded against 
this Romish iniquity. Stop the mouths of 
God's people, that there be no free prayer! 
This is Romanism. In accordance with this 
wicked spirit, is the entire High-Church system. 
"I pay the minister to pray for me" said one 
that admired this Roman idea of living without 
prayer. Protestantism knows of no such "royal 
road" as this, on which a man may pay toll to 
go on his journey to heaven without any further 
interruption. There can be no surer sign of 
decay in the spiritual earnestness of any de- 
nomination, than to give even the least encour- 
agement to this iniquitous system. To tolerate 
for a single moment any such gross perversion 
of Christian truth, may justly be regarded as 
monstrous. We do not intimate, that all who 
favor the system, would for an instant encour- 
age any such blasphemous extravagance as this; 
but it is the Roman principle in its legitimate 
fruits, and to tolerate the system for an instant, 
is to encourage the bad results. Good men have- 
been drawn into this thing without reflection, 
as a worthy elder remarked to the writer. 
Admit the principle, and all is ruin for Protest- 
antism. These men in apologizing for the sys- 
tem, are apologizing for Rome. 



202 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



The general system to which the New Altar 
belongs, it may be remarked again, is unfavor- 
able to deep, thorough and intelligent piety. — 
This must be the case of course in view of the 
observations made with regard to its character. 
A S3^stem that leads to such gross forms of su- 
perstition, and that makes room for encouraging 
the idea of paying the priests in order to an in- 
terest in their pra} r ers, cannot be directly asso- 
ciated with the power of godliness, in its deeper 
and more earnest forms. The religion it may 
produce, if it be possible so far as the system 
itself is concerned to have anything at all to do 
with religion, will be of a dwarfish character. — 
All well know the sadly blighting influence of 
Rome in all countries in the way of earnest 
godliness. The friends of the system in the in- 
terest of Protestantism, often try to please 
themselves that the S3^stem in their case will not 
run into such terribly false influences. But it 
were well to bear in mind that, as a s} r stem, the 
tendency is always toward the outward and 
formal — simply because the principle upon 
which the system is founded is itself outward 
and formal. It is a system grounded in the 
flesh, and not in the spirit ; in the body, and 
not in the soul ; in the feeling, and not in the 
deepest wants of the spirit. The system as 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



203 



such does not aim at self-knowledge ; this is ut- 
terly ignored by Rome. The people have no 
need of knowledge, and particularly that knowl- 
edge which must be had in order to true godli- 
ness. Rome is filled with ignorance ; earnest 
piety is the exception. The same must be true, 
just to the extent that the system is encouraged. 
The natural fruit of the system, even in the most 
favorable view that can be taken, is a miserably 
sickly kind of Christianity — one sided and de- 
fective. All this results from the fact, that the 
system proceeds directly from a false view 
of what really constitutes true godliness. 
Its foundation, according to the true Protest- 
ant idea, is heresy. Faith without knowledge, 
just as faith without works, is no faith at all. 
The idea that a mere assent to authority is 
Christian faith, is an utter absurdity. The nation 
is thrown out and taught, that faith goes before 
knowledge, just as though it were possible to be- 
lieve in the existence of a thing not known to 
exist. Believe in the law of gravitation, for in- 
stance, when as yet it is not known that any 
such law exists ; believe in a Gospel never yet- 
heard of; or in Christ, when as yet no Christ 
in the world. As well talk about believing in 
a human body without a soul, as talk about faith 
without knowledge, True faith presupposes 



204 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



the most profound knowledge — knowledge such 
as the world cannot give ; knowledge such as 
God alone in Christ can give. True faith pre- 
supposes a knowledge of our misery, a knowl- 
edge of the vanity of the world, and a knowl- 
edge of delivery from sin in Christ. This kind 
of knowledge is our schoolmaster to bring us to 
Christ. Only those who have this knowledge, 
granted by God Himself, will ever long to be 
delivered in Christ. It is this very knowledge 
which Christ by His Spirit and Word works 
in the soul, that must lead to repentance and a 
true faith. To talk about ever possessing re- 
pentance and a true faith, as the product of a 
mere assent, regarded as faith, is an utter con- 
tradiction of the Gospel idea of a saving faith. 
It is one thing to assent to the truth of a mere 
axiom in the sphere of human knowledge ; it is 
quite a different thing to speak of a saving faith 
in Christ. This latter is a divine gift — not a 
product of the human under any view. Man b}^ 
nature does not possess it, nor can he ever, by 
any means he can use, obtain it. It enters the 
soul only as the work of Christ by his Spirit 
and Word, and not as this false theory 
teaches, mediated in and through the sacra- 
ments — this were to make faith spring in part 
from an act in which the human individual has 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



205 



part. This may not be. Repentance and a 
true faith are God's gifts in Christ — Christ as 
God, works these gifts by His Spirit and Gos- 
pel. In the sacraments he confirms, or strength- 
ens. In the sphere of nature, life first — then 
strength, or growth ; so here. Christ alone 
must bestow the life, then growth. In order to 
this life, Christ is in the world by his Spirit 
and Word ; where Christ is, there the Church 
is. In order, therefore, to the true idea of god- 
liness there must be a correct knowledge of the 
Word. In this system, according to the Ro- 
mish idea, the Word is to be kept from the peo- 
ple ; they are to be taught the divine truth, 
only to the extent that vain priests may allow ! 
The system, as such, tends directly toward over- 
throwing the very foundation of Christ's king:- 
dom. Allow priests thus to lay hands on the 
truths of the Gospel, and the world must soon 
go backwards. But, no ! God does not permit 
this. He may, and does, bear long; but He 
comes in his own wa}^, and at his own time. The 
Reformation morning brought the world, as well 
as the Church, back from the night of wandering. 
True godliness 1S again found in the Church — 
not, that as a whole the Romish Church was 
darkness during the middle ages. There were 
even then good and great men ; but these were 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



not good, because the system made them good; 
just as many now in the Roman Church are 
good Christians— not the S3 r stem that accom- 
plishes this — but the power of Christ's truth as 
such. There is, therefore, in this system, a 
spirit of fearful delusion, which cannot fail 
to work disastrously, after once developed, in 
any denomination in which it is suffered to 
work its own* way. 

Here is another most dangerous charge de- 
manding our attention. I have denominated 
the system a heresy, not inconsiderately or for 
mere rhetorical effect, but with sober calcula- 
tion and design. In religion, as in life, theory 
and practice are always inseparably intertwined 
in the ground of the soul. Every error is felt 
practically; and WHEREVER OBLIQUITY 
IN CONDUCT COMES INTO VIEW, IT 
MUST BE REFERRED TO SOME CORRE- 
SPONDING OBLIQUITY IN PRINCIPLE. 
It is not by accident that this High-Church 
system is found working so disastrously in 
Rome: nor is it by accident that conceited 
Priests in the Reformed Church, educated in 
the life of this Romish tendency, go out among 
our people — }-ea, on the streets of our towns — 
and talk about the people being too ignorant 
to understand the Bible, and therefore should 



THE 



NEW 



ALTAR. 



not have it : too ignorant to know whether this 
New Altar ought to be used or not ; that we 
ought to have a confessional — we say, it is not 
by chance that this kind of talk is heard com- 
ing; from these men. Error and heresy, and 
that too of a fearful character, are at the bot- 
tom of any system that thus shows itself in so 
short a time. This dangerous Upas breath 
must show itself in the life of such men. — 
Surety a miserably low, Pelagianizing tendenc} r 
underlies the whole system. The idea of a 
new creation is talked about, and a great show 
of philosophy is made ; but after all, who can- 
not see through the sham parade of philosophy 
made by such babbling Priests? The deep 
import of the words, That which is born of (he 
flesh, is flesh, is not fully apprehended. Hence 
the stress always laid upon outward forms, as 
though Christ had said he would give life in 
this kind of outward way. It does not reme- 
dy the case, to be told that Christ has ordain- 
ed a medium in the visible Church through 
which He imparts life. Christ has ordained 
•no such medium: the Bible teaches no such 
doctrine. Christ has ordained channels through 
which he grants grace : but grace is not life. — 
All the vain show of learning and philosophical 
wisdom, as centred in the sacramental theory 



208 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



of this New Altar system, is a low sort of 
trickery, to say the least. It is a vain attempt 
to substitute SACRAMENTAL LIFE, for 
sacramental grace. But any one, who knows 
Rome, is used to this kind of trickery. The 
Roman heresy lies involved in the whole sys- 
tem : to draw a dividing line is an impossi- 
bility. 

It is not Christ, who gets the sinner by lay- 
ing hold upon his soul by the power of his 
Spirit ; no — but the sinner who gets Christ by 
going and submitting to a human priest in the 
way of observing an outward form. It is not 
Christ, who lays His hand of love upon the al- 
tar of the heart by the almighty power of His 
Spirit — thus creating in the soul a true knowl- 
edge of its lost and ruined condition — leading 
the sinner to cry out with Paul, "0 wretch- 
ed man that I am, who shall deliver me from 
the body of this death" — no, it is not Christ, 
who thus brings the sinner to pray for the di- 
vine gifts, repentance toward God and a true 
faith — thus making justification, as Luther 
says, by faith ALONE — no, not this, accord- 
ing to this Romish system. But instead, first, 
faith, as assent, just as reason assents to the 
truth of an axiom — first, this faith, then out- 
ward ordinances in order to get the germ of 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



209 



the new life. As for the gifts, repentance and 
true faith, as divine conditions at hand in the 
soul and necessary in order to regeneration, 
this false system knows nothing. It makes lit- 
tle account of sin : it makes little account of 
repentance, and by necessary consequence 
must ignore the Apostolic idea of faith. This 
false idea of justification allows the sinner to 
fall back in a measure upon himself. True, 
vast account is made of the objective — that is 
the external, that which is out of man and at 
hand in the visible church — but all this is only 
a confusion of ideas. l$o sound theologian pre- 
tends for a moment to deny the presence of 
the sacramental — no, nor the idea of sacra- 
mental grace, as well as grace in all the ordi- 
nances of the Church. The heresjr of this 
Romish system centres in the effort to go be- 
yond this, in order to drag in the priestly, and 
thus have it that sacramental LIFE is com- 
municated in baptism. The fearful heresy in 
this way is taught under the vain pretence that 
the theory is Protestant, because it only asserts 
that sacramental grace is present ! Could any 
Romish sophistry be more palpable ? And yet 
Professors tell us, this is Reformed Theology ! 
Do they suppose we never saw the writings of 
Calvin, Ursinus, Luther? Do they imagine 



210 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



that we are ignorant of the sources of their 
vain philosophy ? The heresy is even worse 
than Pelagianism : it goes on«to establish the 
idea of regeneration when, according to the 
theory, the Apostolic idea is an impossibility, 
so far as their sy stem is concerned. As well, 
if not better, die a Pelagian, than die an im- 
penitent sinner. No respectable Protestant 
theologian ever taught that Christ works re- 
pentance and faith in and through the sacra- 
ments. For this reason Ursinus says, " The 
Church should admit none to the sacraments, 
but such as God ivill have its regard as members 
of his kingdom." The truth is, this High- 
Church system, as we have said, has a life and 
spirit of its own. It may be associated to 
some extent, as in the Reformed Church, with 
the power of a more vigorous life flowing from 
our glorious Reformed faith, and in this way 
be held back, as Augustine held back Roman- 
ism ; and thus may seem comparatively harm- 
less. Not even in our case, with all our native 
spirit of conservatism, has this system been 
held back — for as already seen, the vile fruits 
are beginning to be gathered ; the wicked net 
has been spread, and many innocent ones have 
been caught. Nor is it by accident, as intimat- 
ed, that these bad fruits appear ; they are only 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



211 



natural. The Reformed Church can only go 
backward, when those who ought to be Christ's 
servants begin to claim the prerogatives of 
Christ. This system, therefore, must stand in 
the way of those deeper and more silent forms 
of action by which it is possible to have solid 
spiritual growth. It aims at the total destruc- 
tion of humble piety in our ministry. No 
more will it be said, the Church has a ministiy 
apt to teach ; sermons full of unction, fervour 
and heavenly light ; faithful, earnest and sys- 
tematic instruction in the word of God ; zeal 
for the increase of piety among the members 
of the flock ; prayerful pastoral visitation in 
the cottages of the poor, as well as in the 
dwellings of plenty; diligent catechetical 
training; due attention to order and disci- 
pline ; patient perseverance in the details of 
earnest ministerial work — these are the 
agencies, by which alone the kingdom of God 
may be expected to go steadily forward among 
any people. Happy the congregation, that 
may be under the care of such an earnest, 
prayerful, and faithful minister of Christ ; and 
thankful are we, that many in our Reformed 
Church, who do not endorse this High-Church 
System, as well as many partially committed 
from want of reflection* are among this class 



212 



THE NEW ALTAB. 



of devoted men of God. They are earnest 
men ; they love the Church of their fathers ; 
they deplore this extreme movement ; they de- 
plore the bad fruits already developed. Hap- 
py will it be for our beloved Reformed Zion, as 
well as every branch of the Protestant Church, 
when this pernicious system shall have been 
completely rooted out. In vain may Priests 
try to harmonize the two systems : that of our 
glorious Reformed Catechism can never be rec- 
onciled with this Roman System. The two 
systems at bottom involve two different theo- 
ries" of religion. The Spirit of the New Altar 
is at war with the spirit of the Catechism. — 
Should it ever come to prevail to any extent in 
the Church, then will the evil be fairly brought 
to view. Not only a few of the enthusiastic 
admirers of the system, that will then speak 
out so boldly — but the iron yoke of priest-craft 
once fairly on the shoulders of the Church, and 
no telling what the development may bring 
forth. If already they talk about the confes- 
sional, absolution, and taking the Bible from 
the people, it will only require another decade 
of years, and we must have bells and candles, 
bishops, arch-bishops and to crown all, a Pope. 
The system of the Catechism and this system 
cannot flourish together. As Rome is opposed 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



213 



to the circulation of the Bible, so also to be 
consistent, Rome must oppose the use of a 
Catechism, such as that of the Reformed 
Church. This Catechism cannot be understood 
without studying the Bible. Rome, therefore, 
is averse to using this kind of Catechism. — 
The same is true of those who favor this sys- 
tem. The pungent truth of the Catechism is 
too deeply practical for those who are not 
themselves alive in Christ. The life and soul 
of the Catechism must always centre in an in- 
timate and prayerful knowledge of the glori- 
ous Gospel. The use of the Catechism, in the 
hands of an ardent High-Churchist, must be- 
come a dead form : it were simply silly to say 
that the System of our Catechism can ever be 
made to harmonize with this Roman idea of 
regeneration. It is the living power of the 
Catechism that forms the very inmost centre 
of the system : this power centres in the Spirit 
and Word. The Catechism, as such, ground- 
ed as it is in the Gospel, stands, the represent- 
ative of a system, embracing its own theory of 
religion, and including a wide circle of agen- 
cies peculiar to itself for canning this theo- 
ry into effect. These agencies, in the pulpit 
and out of it, will be understood and honored, 
and actively applied, in proportion exactly as 



214 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



the spirit of the system may prevail ; and in 
the same proportion, the Christianity of the 
Church may be expected to show itself large, 
deep, full, vigorous, and free. Between such a 
Christianity, and that which is the product of 
this High-Church System, there can be no com- 
parison ; and it must be counted an immense 
misfortune, in the case of any religious de- 
nomination, when the views, feelings and forms 
of action, that are represented through the 
force of a perverse judgment, gain such 
ground, as to push the other system aside. It 
must be ever a wretched choice, when the 
High Church theory is preferred to that of the 
Catechism. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



215 



CHAPTER VII. 

SYSTEM OF THE CATECHISM.- — ITS THEOLOGICAL 
GROUND AND CONSTITUTION. — ITS GENERAL 
METHODS AND FORMS OF ACTION. HISTORICAL 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 

It seems to be due to the whole subject, that 
the system of the Catechism, as here opposed 
to the High-Church system, should be a little 
more fully described. This might well form 
the theme of a separate tract. As a closing- 
chapter to the present publication, it can claim 
our attention* only in a very general way. 

The Xew Altar has stood before us as the 
representative and type of a certain religious 
system, having its own theory and its own 
practice, both replete with dangerous error. — 
In the same way, we exhibit the Catechism as 
the representative and type of another system, 
including in like manner both theory and prac- 
tice, of an opposite character. It is not meant 
of course, that the whole system originated in 
the Catechism, or that it must stand or fall es- 
sentially in every instance with the use of the 
Catechism ; but simply that this belongs to it, 
in principle and constitution, and is well fitted 



216 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



at the same time to stand as tlie representa- 
tive of the system — a system believed to be 
in accordance with the Gospel. 

The theory of religion in which the system 
of the Catechism stands, is vastly more deep 
and comprehensive, and of course vastly more 
earnest also, than that which is involved in the 
High-Church sj^stem. The theory of religion 
directly involved in the High-Church system is 
characteristically formal ; it carries with it a 
false view of the Church of Christ, teaches a 
semi-Pelagian idea of sin, a totally confused view 
of the sacrament of baptism, — and involves 
in the end, the grossly superstitious idea that 
conversion is the effect of mediation on the 
part of the priest. This latter absurd and 
superstitious, as well unphilosophical and un- 
scriptural, idea leads very naturally to the to- 
tal overthrow of the truly catechetical idea of 
religious instruction. That such is the legiti- 
mate fruit of this false theory may be seen, 
not only in Rome, but already in the practical 
working of the system as partially developed 
in our Reformed Church. It could not be oth- 
erwise than that such a monstrous perversion 
of Gospel Truth should quickly produce the 
most alarming fruits. For any minister of 
Christ to even intimate that the Bible should 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



217 



not be given to the people, proves be3^ond a 
shadow of doubt, that the system in the life of 
which such a minister stands, has no power to 
save his own soul, and therefore can have no 
power to animate his heart to do the work of 
Christ in instructing those over whom the 
Lord has placed him. To talk about any depth 
of Christian experience in the heart and life 
of such a minister, is an utter absurdity. — 
Rather would such a false-hearted priest teach 
the people to glorify the priests, worship im- 
ages and pictures, adore the saints; and last, of 
all, bow in prayer to the Virgin Mary. 

The grand theory of the Catechism will 
know of no superstitions such as these. The 
High-Church system puts the Church first, 
Christ next. This idea is fully developed in 
Rome : it is only very feebly brought into view 
in the New Altar in our Reformed Church. — 
The fearful influence of the system is seen in 
the life of some who hold and teach this theo- 
ry. The bond of union with Christ is only 
possible in and through the outward or visibly 
organized Church. This unity with Christ is said 
to centre in baptism. This is the very essence 
of Rome. No Pope ever taught a more unscrip- 
tural view. The Council of Vienna at the 
instance of Pope Clement V. A. D* 1311, did 



218 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



not go farther than this. Only through the priest , 
it is said, is it possible to reach Christ. It only 
argues a shallow conceit in those who attempt 
to defend this system on the assumption that 
it is not Roman. Rome asserts that faith goes 
before knowledge ; so this system, as taught in 
the Institutions of the Reformed Church. — 
To attempt to deny this, were worse than folly. 
As a student of the Institutions, we speak in- 
telligently : we are not beating the air. Rome 
asserts that the Church goes before the Word : 
this theory teaches the same. Rome asserts 
that the sacraments convey blessings not con- 
veyed by the Word ; this theory teaches the 
same. Rome asserts that the ministers of 
Christ, are Priests ; this theory teaches the 
same. Rome asserts that upon this New Altai- 
priests offer sacrifices; this theory teaches the 
same. Rome refuses the Bible to the people ; 
this theory does the same. Rome ignores the 
importance of free prayer by the laity ; this 
theory does the same. Rome destroys the idea 
of a universal priesthood of believers ; this 
theory does the same. Rome says, we should 
have no pulpits in our churches, but a box or 
reading desk stuck away in some corner ; this 
theory does the same. Rome says the children 
ought not be instructed in the Word of God ; 



THE NEW A.LTAR. 



219 



this theory, in talking about taking the 
Bible from the people, does the same. Rome 
ignores the Gospel idea of repentance and 
faith ; this theory does the same. In a word, 
Rome puts the Church before Christ ; and con- 
ditions salvation in outward forms and cere- 
monies ; this theory does the same. Consist" 
ently, Rome cannot have a Catechism in the 
sense in which the Reformed Church honors 
the Heidelberg Catechism ; this theory cannot 
endure the thought of holding and teaching 
the glorious truths of our venerated Catechism 
in the sense in which those truths were taught 
by those who wrote the Catechism. 

Clearly enough, the Catechism teaches, 
Christ, first ; the Church, second. This is 
Protestant. Christ does gather, defend and 
preserve, not only the Church, but all the in- 
dividual members of the true Church. This 
viewis clearly taught in the fifty-fourth question 
and answer. No mention is made of gather- 
ing, preserving, and defending the Roman 
hierarchy, or any other Hyper- Yisible organi- 
zation. No mention is made of priestly media- 
tion in order to the existence, or continued ex- 
istence of Christ's Church. Nothing of this 
sort. No sacrament of baptism is alluded to, 
as the bond of unity in this true Church of 



220 



THE NEW ALTAR 



Christ : the Holy Catholic Church. No : not 
this, but it is said that the members of this 
true Church, being chosen to eternal life, agree 
in true faith. Ursinus, in explaining this view 
of the Church of Christ, is very careful to dis- 
tinguish between the bond of unity, as this 
holds in the true Church of Christ, and the 
bond of the outward unity. Those who are 
members of the true Church of Christ agree in 
faith — a living, justifying faith in Christ — a gift 
wrought in the soul. This gift as well as 
that of repentance, for the two gifts condition 
each other, Christ works — so the Catechism 
positively affirms — by his Spirit and Word. — 
For this reason Ursinus explicitly says, " The 
elect become members of the Church, when they 
are converted and regenerated by the Holy 
Ghost." The view of Ursinus is clear: the 
elect are members of this true Church of 
Christ, when regenerated : that is, when Christ 
by his Spirit and Word works in the soul the 
divine gifts, repentance and a true faith. It is 
for this reason that Ursinus speaks so positive- 
ly with regard to the outward, or visible Church, 
the bond of unity being the sacraments. He 
says : u The Church should admit none to the 
sacraments, but such as God will have us re- 
gar (I as members of his kingdom*" Calvin af- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



221 



firms the same, when he says : " The person 
who supposes that the sacraments confer any 
more upon him thorn that ivhich is offered by 
the Word of God. and which he receives by a 
true faith, is greatly deceived." Elsewhere 
Calvin says : " There are others of a contrary 
party, who attribute to* the sacraments, I know 
not what latent virtues, which are nowhere rep- 
resented as communicated by the Word of 
God. By this error the simple and inexpe- 
rienced are dangerously deceived, being taught to 
seek the gifts of God ivhere they can never be 
found, and being gradually drawn away from 
God to embrace mere vanity instead of his truth." 
Ursinus on the same, says : 44 The Word is that 
through which the Holy Ghost COMMENCES 
and CONFIRMS faith in us, and for this reason 
should go before the Sacraments." In defining 
this faith, Ursinns is explicit. He sa}^s : "It is 
conversion, regeneration and universal obedi- 
ence." In answer to the question, To whom is 
this faith given? Ursinus is equally explicit ; he 
says: "Justifying faith is peculiar to all the 
elect, and to them alone ; for it is given to all the 
elect and to them only, including infants, as it 
respects an inclination to faith " Ursinus and 
Calvin both clearly teach, as every other true 
Protestant teaches, the absolute necessity of 



222 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



union with the true Church of Christ by virtue 
of a justifying faith, before it is in any sense 
possible to receive sacramental grace in and 
through the sacraments of the visible Church. 
To attempt to deny this, only shows a perverse 
and arbitrary purpose to try to twist the views 
of these great and good men in order to defend 
some other false system. As well attempt to 
call light, darkness, as attempt to prove that 
either Ursinus or Calvin taught any other view. 
Calvin explicitty affirms that to teach, as this 
ISTew Altar does, that the "gift of God" — as 
that of the "New Life" — is to be sought in 
baptism, is to "seek the gift of God where it can, 
7i ever be found" "By this error" Calvin 
solemnly affirms, "the simple and inexperienced 
are dangerously deceived" Could language be 
more explicit ? The great Genevan minister 
of Christ could not be captivated by means of 
the vain show of Rome. The Lord be praised 
that he had grace and lio'ht from Heaven suffi- 
cient to guide him in the defence of the immor- 
tal doctrine of justification by faith alone; the 
Lord be praised, that we have such groat lights 
in the blessed Church of Christ, to whom we 
can go in our hours of doubt as to the funda- 
mental principles of Church doctrines, as de- 
fended by the eminent and sainted dead. There 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



223 



is no mistaking such explicit statements, as 
made by these two great and good men. We 
need no Muller to instruct us ; we need no Wil- 
berforce or Pusey to tell us what our glorious 
Reformed faith is ; no, none of this, so long as 
Christ preserves to us the blessed legacy given 
to the Church in the writings of Ursinus, Calvin 
and others of their day. 

The weakness and shallow sophistry of High- 
Churchists, are clearly seen in the persistent 
effort to explain this idea of the Holy Catholic 
Church, the bond of unity of which is a true 
faith, as meaning only a community. This 
w r as done in a recent paper, in which the author 
tried to show that gemeine in the German, and 
coetus in the Latin, as used in the answer to the 
seventy-fourth question, only mean a commu- 
nity, in which baptized and unbaptized, saints 
and sinners, live. Apply this false explanation 
to the fifty-fourth answer, and the Holy Catho- 
lic Church, then means such a community in 
which saints and sinners, infidels, rationalists, 
liars and murderers, are all living happily to- 
gether ! Yain and impotent, blind and really 
led captive by an absurd theory, must men of 
learning be, who will attempt such trickery as 
this. But— thus captivating is this Roman 
theory. 



224 



THE NEW ALTAR, 



Equally false is the Roman idea of faith go- 
ing before knowledge. As well talk about a 
body going through the earth without a soul. 
According to the true Apostolic idea, a thought 
to which we have already alluded, faith is no 
more the product of the human, than the crea- 
tion of life is human ; faith — true faith, always 
conditioned by true repentance, is the work of 
Christ. There can be no repentance, there can 
be no faith, without first of all Christ Himself, 
b} r his Spirit and Word, has stood by the altar 
of the broken and contrite heart. True faith, 
therefore, must include knowledge as its con- 
tents ; thisknowledge pre-supposes three things, 
first, a knowledge of the misery of the soul ; 
second, a knowledge of the vanity of the world; 
third, a knowledge of salvation in Christ. Take 
away either element and there can be no true 
faith. This knowledge, none but Christ can 
give. To talk about the priests, the forms and 
ceremonies of the visible Church, thus reaching 
the mysterious depths of the soul, is only to be 
wondered at as the work of a sane mind. Sin 
is too dreadful an evil to be broken up in the 
soul in this way. None but the Almighty 
Saviour Himself, to whom the sinner must go, 
can grant deliverance or true peace. This is 
the view of our glorious Catechism. True faith 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



225 



is a certain knowledge ; nothing can be more 
certain. The foundations of the earth are not 
so certain as this knowledge. We know that 
we are glorious beings, not because we have 
bodies, but because we have that which gives 
us a body. So too in the sphere of faith ; we 
have faith, because we have that which makes 
true faith possible. We have all that God him- 
self can give us ; we have knowledge more pre- 
ttous than all worlds beside. This knowledge 
is our living faith in Christ. Let suns and 
worlds pass ; let the fleeting drama of this 
changing earth go quickly, we have that knowl- 
edge, that faith in Christ, that will lead us 
through life, through darkness and the grave, 
over the wild waters of the Jordan of death, 
bej^ond suns and worlds, on to the glorious 
gates of the Eternal City, through its everlasting- 
portals, along the golden streets of the celestial 
Jerusalem, on past the sea of jasper, thence from 
glory to glory until at last "God shall wipe all 
tears from our eyes," and we shall sing 

"Forever with the Lord !'' 
With this in the soul, there is meaning in the 
idea of sacramental grace ; there is meaning in 
the use of the means of grace ; there is mean- 
ing in the idea of the Christian Church. 5fot 
for the world, would the Christian thus made 



226 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



alive by Christ* fail to use all the means Christ 
has appointed, in order to a successful con- 
flict as a good soldier in the service of Christ. 
In baptism he becomes a sworn soldier : he will 
know no enemy of his Captain: he takes up 
the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of 
God — with this as the fearful weapon of con- 
flict he is sworn to fight. Unlike deluded Rome, 
the Church of Christ urges the Christian, like 
a valiant soldier, to try well the temper of the 1 
blade, so that it may not fail in the deadliest 
hour of gory conflict. It is a glorious struggle 
in which the sworn soldier of Christ is called 
to do battle : he may fall, but if fall he must, 
he will hold fast his sword, and dying, will 
raise himself for the last time, if but on one 
arm to strike some foe of Christ. Yes, over- 
powered the valiant sworn soldier may be, by 
enemies, but well does he know, his true Cap. 
tain will send ministering spirits to his rescue. 
With balmy wings will they fan his fainting 
spirit ; and when the struggle is ended, these 
heavenly spirits will take the noble hero to his 
eternal rest. Blessed, glorious privilege to en- 
list in such an army. 

"They that first in such a warfare die, 
Shall speediest victory know." 

Such a true soldier was Abraham, of whom 



THE NEW ALTAR. 221 

Paul says : "We say that FAITH was reckon- 
ed to Abraham for righteousness. How was 
it then reckoned ? When he was in circum- 
cision, or uncircumcision ? Xot in circum- 
cision, but in uncircumcision. And he received 
the sign of circumcision, a seal of the right- 
eousness of the faith which he had, YET BE- 
ING UNCIRCUMCISED." Plainly enough, 
as Paul taught and as our Catechism teaches — 
What right would Abraham have had to re- 
ceive the sign and seal, had he not before been 
in 'the full possession of the reality, of 
which circumcision is the sign and seal ? — 
What right has a miserable cripple to come and 
offer his services as a soldier ? Does such one 
not know that no nation will sware into service 
an army of cripples ? God swore Abraham in- 
to service because spiritually he was a sound 
man : one who could fight as a sworn soldier 
ought alwaj^s to fight. God calls no cripples 
— self-righteousness — into his warfare ; Christ 
has offered such no place in his Church : 
Christ wants truly sound men, like Abraham, 
to take the oath. No others have any right to 
offer their services. The conceited cripple 
may insist upon the surgeon examining to see 
whether he may not be swo^rn into service : it 
requires only a moment, and the surgeon tells 

8 



228 THE NEW ALTAR. 

him — you are unfit for duty. Do not spirit- 
ual cripples know that the soldier is called to 
an arduous service ; mighty ditches of sin are 
to be crossed ; the strong ramparts of the dev- 
il are to be stormed ; many days are often 
to be spent, camping on the field with nothing 
spiritually to eat, save what is carried in the 
haversack of prayer ; dark and cold nighty 
pass amid the chilly winds of doubt, often 
without the tent of Christ's blessed presence ; 
yes, yes, do not such cripples know that 
the great Captain calls true men — men who will 
cheerfully endure all these fearful trials, and 
when the enemy appears, men who will not 
fear to fight. Shout after shout rings forth 
from the hungry hosts, as they go forth at the 
command of their Leader to die, forsooth, on 
the gory field. They fight !— They fight. Yes. 
they fight gloriously, for they hear the clear, 
heavenly Voice of their beloved Captain.— 
Yes, some — 

"Die on the field of battle ! 

'Tis noble thus to die ; 

God smiles on valiant soldiers — 

Their record is on high. 

Die ! die! die ! die! 

On the field of battle." 

This, this, is the spirit of our Cate- 
chism. Pounded, as the Church is, in the 
blood of the Lamb, earnest men are needed to 



THE N E W Altai:. 



220 



enter Qhrist's service; men whom none ean 
prepare for the work, but Christ Himself. 

It is to such earnest soldiers, as in the ease 
of Abraham, that Christ gives the command — 
•Sware into this service your infants.' Well 
might Abraham have said, Why, my Cap- 
tain, these tender babes are not fit for such 
arduous service as that to which Thou callest 
true soldiers ! Shall the soldier thus address 
his Commander ? That were an act of disobe- 
dience no good soldier would dare to renture. 
He is called to take the oath as a parent that 
he will prepare these infants for their work, so v 
that when they are of proper age and strength, 
they may publicly themselves enter into the 
same service. As Infants, the Lord knows 
best how to use their services ; they cannot 
fight as true men fight for Christ : that does 
not matter. The Captain has use for them : 
he calls them ; and woe to the disobedient sol- 
dier that refuses to take the oath to train them 
for actual duty. Better the great Captain 
would say of such an unfaithful soldier, that a 
millstone were fastened about his neck, and 
that he were drowned in the depths of the sea. 
The Captain calls the children. As to how He 
can use these little ones in his army, that we 
leave to Him. We know only to obey. 



230 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



On this blessed foundation, there is room 
for the true idea of Catechetical instruction: 
there is room for the prayers of the parents : 
there is room for the constant care and atten- 
tion of the faithful pastor : there is room for 
pungent and serious instructions from the Word 
of God. All this is involved in the solemn 
vow, the parent takes in the oath of infant 
baptism. All must centre in the idea of faith- 
ful nurture in the Lord. Not as too many par- 
ents are apt to suppose, and as the High- 
Church system really teaches, that the child 
already truly has all it can have. It is to be 
trained, as youths are trained for the army, by 
undergoing severe discipline — until its age 
and strength lit it for a public entrance upon 
the actual life of the sworn soldier. This is 
secured in confirmation, or as sometimes call- 
ed, a profession of faith. Woe, Woe, to that 
parent that shall fail to use the means so am- 
ply provided by Christ ; and which means, 
when properly used, have the promise of 
Christ's blessing : we say^ woe to that parent 
that shall, through negligence, or a careless 
and indifferent life, fail to use the "sweet 
hours of praj^er," the faithful instructions of 
God's Word, attendance upon the public ordi- 
nances of the Church — the admonitions of the 
t 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



281 



faithful pastor — woe to the parent in view of 
all the means, and in view of the solemn oath 
of baptism, that shall yet disregard all and live a 
careless life — thus leading his children into 
perdition. Better never have had children ! — 
Better himself, had he never been born ! A 
Traitor is always hateful ! What will Christ 
do with such traitors ? 

This system of the Catechism is based upon 
no Pelagian view of sin : it is based upon the 
fearful fact that the whole race is involved in 
awful ruin. No priest, no forms, no ceremo- 
nies, can avail here : the great High-Priest 
Himself must come by his Spirit and Word, 
and, standing by the altar of the heart He 
has made humble and contrite, there speak 
pardon and peace. His ministers are only his 
servants, humble like himself when on earth ; 
these servants only point sinners to the great 
High-Priest : they can do no more : they can 
tell men of the compassionate Jesus : the}' can 
urge the sinner to go to Him : more they can- 
not do : more they dare not attempt to do. 

The system of the Catechism is churchly : 
but according to the two-fold view of the 
Church. Christ first, the living, speaking, 
working, calling Christ. ]S T ot the Romish idea 
that where the visible Church— that is, the 



232 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



church in the sphere of forms and ceremonies- — 
goes, there Christ goes : not this — but wher- 
ever Christ by his Spirit and Word goes, there 
is the true Church. Infants born in this 
Church are regarded as members from the 
beginning : this blessed idea is felt to be more 
than an empty shadow. The idea of infant 
conversion is not ignored ; and it is counted 
in accordance with the teaching of Christ 
Himself that children growing up in the bosom 
of the Church, under the faithful application 
of the means of grace, should be quickened 
into spiritual life in a comparatively unknown 
way, and spring up numerously, as "willows by 
the water-courses," to adorn the Christian 
profession, without being able at all to trace 
the process by which the change has 
been effected.* Where any Christian denomi- 
nation begins to lose confidence in this system, 
and begins to look about after a High-Church 
foundation, there must be a falling awa}^ from 

It is not intended to assert t hat regeneration, as such, 
is a gradual work : by no means. We are speaking now 
of the catechetical system with reference to the children 
of christian parents. Regeneration is always instantane- 
ous: as such it is not to be perceived by the subject. — 
It can be perceived only in its effects. Regeneration 
may take place in the womb, or in infancy, or in early 
childhood, or in adult age. In every case its symbol is 
the wind. "Thou hearest the sound thereof, &c. ; ' 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



233 



the true Reformed faith in the same propor- 
tion. All will be made to centre in forms and 
ceremonies : in outward signs without the in- 
ward substance. This being true, then of 
course as Calvin says : "The simple and inex- 
perienced will be dangerously deceived," by 
seeking the "gift of the new life" in baptism ; 
where as he adds : "it can never be found." 
This false view must lead to formality ; child- 
ren will be left to grow up in circumstances of 
most heartless neglect. Parents themselves 
are believing what is utterly false. Only where 
the true spirit and life of the Catechism are 
known and felt, as something far more deep, 
far more thoroughly imbued with the Gospel 
of Christ, than the heartless forms of this 
High-Church system — only where all this is 
truly realized, can there be any proper ap- 
preciation of the truly churchly idea underly- 
ing the Catechism. Only where the system of 
the Catechism is thus had in honor, will we find 
a properly earnest regard for the salvation of 
the young : a regard, that operates, not partial- 
ly and occasionally only, but follows its sub- 
jects with all-compassing interest, like the light 
and air of heaven, from the first breath of in- 
' fancy onwards : a regard that cannot be satis- 
fied, in their behalf, with the mere outward 



234 



THE NEW ALTAIl. 



form, but an interest that is deep, earnest, 
prayerful and travails in the spirit for them, 
till Christ be formed in their hearts the hope 
of glory. 

In this way due regard is had to the family, 
the domestic constitution, as a vital and fun- 
damental force, in the general organization of 
the Church ; and all proper pains are taken to 
promote piety in families, as the indispensable 
condition of its prosperity under all other 
forms. Parents are engaged to pray with and 
for their children, and to watch over them with 
true spiritual anxiety and deep solicitude, con- 
tinually endeavoring to draiv them to CJwist.--* 
With such feelings, parents will have of course 
a FAMILY ALTAR, and daily sacrifices of 
PRAISE AND PRAYER, IN THE MIDST 
OF THEIR HOUSE. These Christian par- 
ents will be careful too, to instil into the 
minds of their children the great truths of 
religion, "in the house and by the way."-— 
Especially will pious mothers avail themselves 
of the powerful influence of closet prayer with 
their infant children. Often will these blessed 
Marys be found taking the tender babes to 
Jesus in secret prayer : there laying a trem- 
bling hand upon some darling boy, or affec- 
tionate little girl, the mother will pray earnest- 



THE NEW ALTAK. 



235 



ly and fervently that Heaven's richest blessing 
may rest upon the child. the blessed in- 
fluence of such an hour : the heavenly power 
of such prayers ! Some of us can well remem- 
ber a parent's tear, that ran slowly down the 
cheek now cold in death : some of us can 
speak of a mother's tears that fell upon our 
infant cheek : some of us can remember the 
stammering, agonizing voice of a beloved, but 
now sainted father, wrestling in prayer for his 
children. Yes ! The Lord be praised, many such 
parents are found in the Reformed Church ; 
and that thousands more might soon bless 
the Church with the heavenly odor of their 
prayerful lives. This is the spirit of our 
Catechism. What soul that knows its pow- 
er, does not love its high and holy influence ? 
Where this spirit is known and loved, catechet- 
ical instruction in particular becomes a de- 
light, and will be employed in the blessed way 
in which it always should be employed. The 
holy, heavenly example of true piety in the 
family, imparts life to all other forms of in- 
fluence. All this is secured when the true 
spirit of our Catechism is properly realized. 

In close connection with the blessed influence 
of earnest piety in the family, the ministra- 
tions of the Church of Christ come in, under 



236 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



a more public form, to carry forward the same 
work. The Church of Christ feels herself 
bound to watch over the infants and children 
born in her bosom, and to follow them with 
prayerful counsel and instruction in the Word 
of God from one year always to another. They 
are required to attend when old enough upon 
the services of the sanctuary. The earnest, 
patient, and prayerful instructions of the 
Catechism must be continued from time to time, 
to cast if possible, both the understanding 
and the heart into the mould of evangelical doc- 
trine. 

The earnest, pungent and prayerful preach- 
ing of the Word is most faithfully regarded, 
and the use of the sacraments forms of course an 
essential part of the same glorious system. — 
The ordinances of the Sanctuary, being of 
divine institution, are regarded as means to be 
used in order to growth in grace : all is done 
with such earnestness and diligence, as bespeak 
proper confidence in their virtue and great 
importance, 

Then again, this catechetical system, over 
against the heartless formality of High- 
Church ideas of the PRIESTLY, includes the 
wide range of the proper pastoral work, as 
distinguished from that of the pulpit. The 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



231 



faithful minister, as the servant of Christ, is 
found preaching the Gospel from house to 
house, as well as in a more public way ; visit- 
ing all the families that are under his care, ex- 
pressly for this purpose ; conversing with old 
and young, on the great and all-important sub- 
ject of personal piety; mingling with the poor, 
in their humble dwellings as well as with those 
in better circumstances ; ministering the in- 
structions of the blessed Gospel, or its consola- 
tions, at the bedside of the sick and the dy- 

. ing; and, in a word, laying himself out in 
continual labors of love towards all, as the ser- 

* vant of all for Jesus' sake. The holiness of 
his own life particularly becomes, in these cir- 
cumstances, an agency powerful beyond all 
others, to recommend and enforce the Gospel 
he is called to preach. To all who know him, 
his very presence carries with it the weight of 
an impressive testimon}' in favor of the truth. 

The object in all these efforts, is not simply 
to call sinners to repentance and faith ; not on- 
ly to try to increase the number making a pro- 
fession of attachment to Christ ; but what is 
equally, if not more, important, to build them 
up through the knowledge of the glorious 
Gospel, in all righteousness, unto everlasting 
life. The ministry, with all the resources of 



238 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



the sanctuary, is made to look not only toward 
outward growth, but also to "the perfecting of 
the saints,' 7 and "the edifying of the body of 
Christ." Individual Christians, and each con- 
gregation as a whole, are to be established, 
strengthened, and carried forward, with regu- 
lar and symmetrical growth, to the "measure 
of the stature of the fulness of Christ." It is 
characteristic of the opposite s} 7 stem to make 
no proper account of the pastoral office as 
such; all is absorbed in the PRIESTLY: 
people are to come to the Priest. When car- 
ried forward to any extent, this High-Church 
system aims at the very destruction of all 
growth in grace. Growth in grace, according 
to the Apostle, is always conditioned by growth 
in knowledge — "Grow in grace and in the 
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ." Rome takes the blessed Gospel from 
the people, thereby defeating the very object 
the Apostle urges upon all Christians. In- 
stead of growth in knowledge and grace, 
Rome aims at growth in superstition and 
ignorance. This must necessarily follow from 
the law of priest-craft. Pride and vanity, 
twin imps of the devil, are at the bottom of 
the whole sj 7 stem. Rome stands upon the rot- 
ten foundation that the Church must be built 



THE NEW A.LTAR. 



239 



up by the mediation of priests, instead of be- 
ing built up by Christ Himself, by his Spirit 
and Word. By a priestly, and therefore out- 
ward and mechanical, process, souls are to 
be brought into the kingdom. All this is suf- 
ficiently absurd and extravagant, as may be 
seen from the practical influence of the S} r s- 
tem. Internal growth in spiritual life is a 
thing unknown in Rome : even the profane in- 
fidel is sent through purgatory right into heav- 
en by the priest, from a death-bed, b}^ sprink- 
ling holy water upon his dying body, and then 
pronouncing the absolution ! Such a system 
is High-Churchism ; equally abhorrent to com- 
mon sense, and to all that tends to elevate 
society, or redeem the world. But when re- 
garded in the light of the Gospel of Christ, it 
can only be called wickedness in the extreme ; 
blasphemy, one would suppose such as found 
only in perdition. 

The system of the Catechism gives no en- 
couragement to ignorance under am?- form : it 
aims a fearful death-blow at all religious stu- 
pidity, torpor and sloth. It calls its ministers 
to a life of earnest, prayerful, spiritual toil : 
it will allow no one to take refuge under the 
assumption that the Gospel work is done. — 
The young Christian is called to a life of ar- 



240 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



duous duty : lie may never lay down the weap- 
ons of his spiritual warfare: he must be 
valiant : he must be full of courage : above all, 
he must keep the sword of the Spirit, which is 
the Word of God, constantly burnished and 
ready for battle. He dare not put it up into the 
scabbard of sloth and indifference. The same 
of the entire Church of Christ. No rest in 
this conflict ; no camping on the plains of ease 
here : UP, UP, cries the great Captain of our 
salvation. The Church of Christ must bur- 
nish her armor for conquest. Christ can have 
no dead churches : Christ has no use for dead 
ministers : they are blind leaders of the blind : 
to scourge the wickedness of the people, the 
Lord often sends such men. This God did 
with his chosen people Israel. The system of 
the Catechism is a Gospel system, and there- 
fore a living system. Dead churches and dead 
ministers, that know not the power and life of 
the catechetical s} 7 stem, and make no account 
of inward living piety, as a necessary qualifi- 
cation for membership in the Church of Jesus 
Christ, HAVE NO RIGHT TO IDENTIFY 
THEMSELVES WITH THE SYSTEM OF 
THE CATECHISM; it is a gross wrong, 
therefore, inflicted upon the system to attempt 
in any way to identify High-Churchism, under 



/ 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



241 



even its most favorable aspect, with this 
system. The Catechism calls for spiritual 
power and strength in its ministers, such as 
High-Churchism never knew, and never can 
know : it calls for spiritual earnestness in its 
ministers such as Rome never dreamed of: and 
never can dream of : it speaks with the voice 
of a Paul : it implores with the warmth of a 
J ohn : in a word, the system must lead the 
soul that knows its power to sit, like Mary, 
humbly at the Saviour's feet. It is the great- 
est and most difficult work in the world, to be 
a faithful minister of Jesus Christ, in the 
spirit of this system ; which might well con- 
strain even an Apostle to exclaim, Who is suf- 
ficient for these things ? God forbid, that we 
should countenance for a moment the dreadful 
supposition that the work of the ministry calls 
for no special zeal, no missionary devotion, no 
full and entire consecration to Christ, no earn- 
est concern for the salvation of immortal souls ; 
or that a congregation may be considered in a 
right state where the voice of social and family 
prayer is silent, the tear of penitence unknown, 
the hand of benevolence palsied, the language 
of Canaan despised, and the power of true 
godliness treated as an idle dream. A church, 
or congregation, without spiritual life is an a- 



242 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



bomination in the sight of God. The ministry 
is horribly profaned, when it is made a retreat 
for worldly formalists, drones, mere hirelings 
that care not for the spiritual welfare of the 
flock but only for the fleece. "Instant in sea- 
son and out of season" is its true watchword, 
the motto that wa\ es on its heaven-descended 
banner; and it is under the system of the Cate- 
chism precisely, that the power of this is fully 
understood and felt, and may be expected to 
come, in a practical way, fully into view. 

In this system, room is found naturally and 
easily, for all truly evangelical interests. It is 
a prodigious abuse of terms, when any one of 
these is crowded out of its proper place, and 
made to stand in another connection entirely ; 
when the social prayer meeting, for instance, 
and the various missionary and benevolent 
operations of the Church, are divorced in im- 
agination from the regular work of Christian- 
ity, and ranked in the same bad category with 
such tricks of human device as this High- 
Churchism. Family and social praj^er, be- 
long as much as private prayer to the 
very nature of the Church. The spirit of mis- 
sions is identical with the sjririt of Christian- 
ity. For a church, a congregation, or a minis- 
ter to oppose, or neglect to cultivate a spirit of 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



243 



prayer, to oppose social prayer-meetings, or 
efforts to send the Gospel to the heathen, or 
efforts to raise up pious and faithful ministers, 
or to circulate BIBLES AND TRACTS, for 
the promotion of genuine godliness at home, 
is to oppose Christ. We hear of High- 
Churchists who regard all this as fanaticism : 
we have seen the sad effect this hereti- 
cal High-Churchism has had upon some of our 
ministers ; we have heard, yea ! only too true, 
of taking the Bible from the people : we have 
heard, and our hearts are pained to know it, 
of the talk of confessionals, and the ignorance 
of the people ; we have heard all this, and what 
shall we say ? Such ministers, in the emphatic 
language of the Apostle, "lie and do not the 
truth. " They honor neither the Catechism, nor 
the Bible, nor Christ. And the saddest evi- 
dence of this appears invariably in the fact, 
that the same ministers hate all serious, earnest 
godliness, are perfectly worldly in their tem- 
per, ^make no account of the true idea of the 
new life in Christ, and show no proper sense of 
piety whatever, any farther than as it may be 
supposed to consist in decent morality, and an 
outward and wholly mechanical use, to some ex- 
tent, of its standing ordinances. May the 
good Lord speedily deliver the Reformed 



244 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



Church from the influence — the dreadful in- 
fluence — of such High Churchism ! 

The system of the Catechism makes large 
account of every special, as well as extraordi- 
nary form of action, in order to spread the Gos- 
pel. It aims, as before remarked, a deadly 
blow at all spiritual as well as intellectual, 
ignorance. Well had it been for our Reformed 
Church, had not some of her ministers appar- 
ently overlooked this fact. Had duty been 
faithfully discharged in this direction by all her 
ministers, High-Churchism would never have 
been found existing in our denomination. — 
What we greatly need is a deeper sense of the 
life and power of our Catechism ; and not the 
outward forms and ceremonies of High-Church- 
ism. What we need, and greatly need, as 
ministers, is more and still more of the living 
Are of true godliness : then we will go in and 
out^ before our people as those whose hearts 
have been touched by a live-coal from off 
Christ's Altar. We will need no New Altar : 
what we want above all else is, this living 
fire from the Altar — that Altar at which 
Christ ministers as the Great High Priest. — 
For such a shower of heavenly fire upon her 
ministers, and upon her congregations, it is the 
blessed privilege of the Church to hope, and for 



THE NEW ALTAR 



245 



this it is her solemn duty fervently to pray at 
all times. To call in question either the reality 
or the desirableness of this out-pouring of the 
Spirit, is a monstrous scepticism, that may be 
said to border on infidelity itself. These are 
the natural product of the proper life of 
the Church. Wherever the system of the 
Catechism is rightly understood, and faith- 
full}^ applied, it may be expected to gen- 
erate this true power of God unto the salvation 
of souls, and the rapid growth of the Church in 
the spirit of true godliness. In such circum- 
stances the Church of Christ might well be said 
to have reached the ^Delectable Mountains," 
there to bask in the sunshine of Heaven. — 
This may be denominated her i; best state," and 
we may add, her most true, proper and normal 
state. Ministers that hate the name of a revi- 
val of this kind, may be said emphatically to 
"love death." Every truly earnest, faithful, 
prayerful pastor will be concerned, and deeply 
concerned, to see his ministrations crowned 
with such a special effusion of God's Spirit, and 
will stand prepared to hail with joy the first 
indications of its approach, and to put forth 
special efforts for the purpose of turning such 
a manifestation of God's Presence to the largest 
account. These efforts, however, will be in the 



246 



THE NEW ALTAR* 



general form of his ordinary ministrations and 
services. An out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, 
in token of Heaven's approval of faithful, earn- 
est, prayerful pastoral labor, in the very nature- 
of the case, so far as it may be a special visita- 
tation of the Spirit, transcending the ordinary 
life of a particular congregation, must call forth 
special action, on the part of both pastor and 
people. Meetings for prayer will naturally be 
multiplied. The call for earnest, pungent, and 
truly Apostolic preaching, will be increased. 
A^isiting from house to house with an elder, for 
the special purpose of religious conversation, 
instructions from the Word of God, and fervent 
prayer, will be carried forward of course with 
greater diligence and spiritual anxiety than be- 
fore. The sermons of the pastor will become 
more and more truly powerful, for he will feel 
that it is Christ, who speaks ; it is Christ, who 
works ; it is Christ, who puts the words of fire 
into his heart ; it is Christ, who directs his 
lips ; it is Christ, who carries home the truth to 
the hearts and consciences of the people ; it is 
Christ, who causes awakened sinners to cry out, 
Lord, save or we perish ; it is Christ, who owns 
and blesses the Word to the salvation of souls ; 
all this the minister, who understands and lives 
in the Apostolic life of the Catechism, well 



THE NEW ALTAU. 



247 



knows, and knowing this, he loves the Sys- 
tem of the venerated Catechism. The spirit 
of the Catechism thus at work, it will doubtless 
be necessary to have special conferences with 
the awakened. All this is the result of Christ's 
Presence by his Spirit and Word, and is itself 
only an extension of the process, by which the 
ordinary life of the Church is to be maintained: 
this special work is made necessaiy by . the out- 
pouring of God's Spirit, and is fairly compre- 
hended, from first to last, in the system of the 
Catechism. 

All this can never be realized in any sense 
as in harmony with the system of the New Altar ; 
there may be, and the Lord be praised that 
there are special out-pourings of the Spirit 
even in Rome ; but let no one suppose for 
a moment, that any such power lies in the 
Roman system as such. The same is true of 
this New Altar System. Essentially the Roman 
System in a weak ajid sickly state of develop- 
ment, it has no power to move the soul to deep 
penitence ; it has no power to kindle the fire 
that must come from Christ's Altar; it is oppos- 
ed, as a system, to the true idea of Apostolic 
preaching ; it aims to break down the Apostolic 
idea of the pastoral office — to substitute in 
place, the absurd, superstitious, and heretical 



248 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



idea of priest-craft. In a word, as a sj^stein, it 
deserves neither the confidence, nor the respect, 
of any truly earnest and prayerful lover of the 
s}^stem of the Catechism. 

It was emphatically the Catechetical system, 
on which the great Reformers of the 16th cen- 
tury relied, in carrying forward the work for 
which they were raised up by the Spirit of God. 
This s} r sjtem might well be called, the system of 
the Reformation. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, were 
all, in the fullest sense, men of the Catechism; 
and it was in this character pre-eminently, they 
showed themselves so mighty and so successful, 
in laying the foundation, and rearing the super- 
structure, of that vast spiritual work which has 
since been associated with their names. Surely 
they had ample opportunity, if they had possess- 
ed even the slightest desire to use it, to know 
all the beauty — if beauty there really is in su- 
perstition — of the High-Church system. Rome 
in all her glory stood before them ; they well 
knew what outward forms and heartless cere- 
monies were. Luther might well have canon- 
ized himself by starting some such fanciful and 
absurd New Altar performances ; Luther might 
have hesitated to nail his theses to the church 
door, had he sought to establish such a system. 
The public mind was ripe for such a movement. 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



249 



and well might he have thus immortalized, if 
not deified, himself. But no, Luther belonged 
to the earnest, Apostolic type of men. The 
courage of a Paul roused his heroic soul ; and 
with the hammer with which he nailed his theses 
to the church door, he also struck the heart of 
the world, and as a herald sent from Heaven 
cried, Justification by faith alone. That voice, 
mighty as the voice of many waters, has sound- 
ed from land to land, and from country to 
countiy, until as if uniting with the same voice, 
the whole Protestant world, catching up the 
glorious strain, rolls it back and forth, while 
from the Cross of Christ, beams forth upon the 
entire race the light, the undying light of the 
Gospel of the Son of God. 

I cannot perhaps close the subject better, 
than by exhibiting a most interesting and in- 
structive example of the true character and 
force of the system now explained and recom- 
mended, as furnished from the history of the 
century following the Reformation in England, 
by the celebrated Richard Baxter, and his 
congregation of Kidderminster. Switzerland, 
Germany, Holland, and most of all, Scotland, 
present in their history innumerable attestations 
to the same point. But it is well to fix our at- 
tention for a moment, on a single case, pecu- 



250 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



liaiiy striking in its character, and more than 
commonly prominent through the world-wide 
reputation of the pastor. 

Baxter, it is well known, lived in the most 
stormy period of English history, during which, 
for more than half a century, both Church and 
State, might be said to rock perpetually, as 
with the earthquake throes of revolution. He 
was intimately connected, at the same time 
with public affairs and public men, and deeply 
concerned in the political changes that were go- 
ing forward. *He was, moreover, a scholar and 
a writer, with such attachment to his books, 
and such a zeal in the use of his pen, as have 
characterized, but few ministers in any age. — 
Add to all this, he labored under such a com- 
plication of bodily infirmities and ailments, that 
one can hardly help wondering how he was able 
to do anything at all. It is distressing only to 
think over the catalogue of his disagreeable 
maladies, as they are presented in his life. 

Kidderminster, when he began to preach 
there, was a most neglected, unpromising charge, 
like many others in England at that time. His 
predecessor had been a common tippler and 
drunkard, without any fitness whatever for his 
work. The congregation was large, but com- 
posed for the most part of ignorant, careless 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



251 



rough-mannered people. At the end of two 
years, the excitement produced by the civil wars 
compelled him to withdraw. After the lapse of 
some time, however, he was permitted to resume 
his labors in the same place, and continued in 
them about fourteen years, till separated from 
his charge by the new order of things, brought 
in with the restoration of the Second Charles. 
His ministry at the time was by no means gen- 
erally palatable. It seemed to be altogether 
too serious and strict, for the views that reigned 
commonly among the people, and called forth 
in fact no small amount of rough opposition. — • 
Buthe was not to be discouraged by difficulties 
of this sort. He went forward patiently and 
faithfully with his work, and in the end saw it 
crowned with complete success. 

The congregation of Kidderminster would 
seem to have been precisely of that sort, which 
those who glorify the New Altar system in our 
day, might consider specially in need of the 
Priest. Keep the Bible from such a congrega- 
tion, say nothing about the great importance 
of family and social prayer ; never mention the 
necessity of the laity cultivating the blessed 
spirit of free prayer ; do not even intimate that 
parents ought to pray with and for their chil- 
dren ; all this, and surely the people would glo- 



252 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



rify such a priest. He might talk about High- 
Church authority, reverence for the New Altar, 
the great importance of absolution and the con- 
fessional ; yes, he might even intimate the pro- 
priety of the priest wearing the surplice, long 
cassock, dalmatic, &c. — or if he had a fancy for 
some few more things of the same sort, he might 
suggest the necessity of candles, the pot of 
smoking incense, the bell-boys, and so on to the 
end of the absurd farce. All this might have 
seemed very desirable, and. no doubt would 
have met with success in its own way — the way 
of spiritual ignorance and spiritual famine. 

But this fancy New Altar System did not 
suit the earnest, spiritually-minded Baxter. — 
Such forms and ceremonies in his eyes were of 
little account ; he had no conception or expec- 
tation of any real good to be accomplished by 
his ministry, except in the way of patient, 
constant attendance upon the work itself, in its 
most minute details, kept up with prayer and 
faith from the end of one year to that of another. 
Besides his Sabbath work, and occasional ser- 
mons at other times, he preached once every 
Thursday. On Thursday evening he held a re- 
ligious conference at his own house, calling 
sometimes on one, and sometimes on another, 
to lead m prayer. The young people held be- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



253 



sides a weekly prayer-meeting. On Saturday 
evenings, the people were encouraged to meet 
together at some of their houses, to repeat the 
sermon of the proceeding Sabbath, and to pre- 
pare themselves by prayer for the following day. 
"Two days every week," he tells us, "my assist- 
ant and myself took fourteen families between 
us, for private catechising and conference ; he 
going through the parish, and the town coming 
to me. I first had them recite the words of the 
Catechism, and then examined them about the 
sense ; and lastly urged them with all possible 
engaging reason and vehemency, to answerable 
affection and practice. I spent about an hour 
with each family, and admitted no others to be 
present ; lest bashfulness should make it bur- 
thensome, or any should talk of the weakness 
of others. All the afternoons on Mondays and 
Tuesdays, I spent in this way." 

Such was the general method of Baxter's 
ministry. It was constant, regular, earnest ; 
not marked with any show or parade ; but like 
the common processes of nature, silent rather, 
deep and full of invisible power. He was a man 
of prayer, and his whole soul was in the work. 
Filled with something of that blessed spirit of 
undjdng Love that moved the Saviour's heart, 
and longing to lead souls to the Cross, Baxter 



254 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



knew no labor too severe, no sacrifice too great, 
in order to the good of sonls and to the glory 
of God. Thus his ministrations were clothed 
with uncommon interest and force. Prejudice 
and opposition gradually gave way. The pas- 
tor became the centre of all hearts. In the end 
the Lord crowned his labors with success. — 
When Christ thus stands by the Altar of the 
heart, there to keep away all self-confidence, 
vanity and superstition; there to keep alive the 
heavenly fire of prayer and holy fervor; there 
to give strength and wisdom in the knowledge 
of the glorious Gospel ; there to help his serv- 
ants to realize their constant dependence, upon 
His Presence — in a word ; there to fill the soul 
with "all the fulness of God" — then may minis- 
ters go forth in the power of the Saviour's 
strength ; then it will be felt that it is "not b}^ 
might, nor by power, but my Spirit, saith the 
Lord." The life of true piety will be constant- 
ly progressive ; the power of God's presence 
will be felt all the time in such an earnest, 
pra}<erful ministerial use of the means the 
Saviour has appointed in order to the true well- 
being of his Church. 

In the ministry of Baxter, the result was 
wonderful. "The Congregation," he says, "was 
usually full, so that we were fain to build about 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



255 



live galleries after my coming hither ; the church 
itself being very capacious, and the most com- 
modious and convenient that ever I was in. — 
Our private meetings also, were full. On the 
Lord's days there was no disorder to be seen in 
the streets ; bu * you might hear a hundred fami- 
lies singing psalms and repeating sermons, as 
you passed through them. In a word, when I 
came thither first, there was about one family 
in a street that worshiped God and called on 
his name ; and when I came away, there were 
some streets where there was not one poor family 
in the side that did not do so, and that did not 
by professing serious godliness, give us hopes 
of their sincerity. And in those families which 
were the worst, being inns and ale-houses, usu- 
ally some persons in each house did seem to be 
religious." The congregation numbered six 
hundred communicants ; 4 'of whom there were 
not twelve,' 7 sa}^s Baxter, "that I had not good 
hope of as to their sincerity." 

Most happy would it be for our Reformed 
Church, if all her pastors could be engaged to 
lay to heart the weight of this great example. 
Let no one think ' within himself, that his cir- 
cumstances make it impossible for him to work 
and prevail, in the same style. It would be 
hard to find among all our charges, a field so 



256 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



rough and unpromising as was the parish of 
Kidderminster, when first subjected to the la- 
bors of Baxter. And it is only the zeal and 
faithfulness of Baxter, that are needed, to trans- 
form the worst among them, in the course of a 
few years, into the image, at least in part, of 
what Kidderminister was, when his ministry in 
the place was brought to a close. He has him- 
self drawn a most stirring picture of what the 
pastor should be, in his small work entitled, 
"Gildas Salvianus: The Reformed Pastor ; 
showing the nature of the pastoral ivork, espe- 
cially in private instruction and catechising" I 
consider it a privilege to close this present 
work, with a pointed reference to this most ex- 
cellent publication. If any wish to see the 
System of the Catechism explainedand enforced, 
as with a pencil dipped in heavenly light, let 
them read Baxter's "Gildas Salvianus." One 
sentence of his own with regard to it should 
never be forgotten. "If God wouldbut reform 
the ministry, and set them on their duties zealous- 
ly and faithfully, the people would certainly be 
reformed : all churches, either rise or fall, as 
the ministry doth rise or fall ; not in riches and 
worldly grandeur, but in knowledge, zeal, and 
ability for the worjc." 

"The Reformed Pastor," says the distinguish- 



THE NEW ALTAR. 



257 



ed Dr. Doddridge, "is a most extraordinary per- 
formance, and should be read by every young- 
minister before he takes a people under his sta- 
ted care ; and, I think, the practical part of it 
reviewed every three or four years. For noth- 
ing would have a greater tendency to awaken 
the spirit of a minister to that zeal in his work 
for want of which, many good men are but shad- 
ows of what, by the blessing of God, they might 
be, if the maxims and measures laid down in 
that incomparable treatise were strenuously 
pursued/' 



